Zoe's Revenge
by kensi54382
Summary: Zoe has escaped from prison and there's one thing on her mind: Tony. But this time, she's not alone. With help, she's going to get what she wants. Or is she?
1. Chapter 1

**This sequel will answer some things that were left unsaid in the previous story. You can read this without reading Tony's Problem, but some things may not make sense if you haven't read Tony's Problem.**

* * *

Tracy Keller found the secret entrance she had been told about by one of her criminal buddies and quickly, but quietly, entered the dark tunnel. She closed the grate behind her and climbed down the steel rungs used as stairs, being careful not to slip on the recently soaked bars. Once she was at the bottom, Tracy pulled a flashlight from her waistband and flicked it on, glad when the old thing started right away. She turned around in a full circle, making sure she checked every little crook before she moved forward. The tunnel was still wet from the rain that afternoon, so Tracy was careful as she walked; she didn't need to trip and stuff everything up. This 'mission', as she called it, was too important. Her best friend was in need of her help.

After walking for what seemed like hours in the cold, dark tunnel, Tracy came to a fork in the road. She could go left, find the other end of the tunnel and get out before she did anything illegal, or she could continue with her plan and take the right side, following it until she got to the manhole she needed. She hesitated for a moment, but her gut was telling her to keep going, so she did. She turned to the right and continued walking for another half a mile. When she stopped, there was a steel door above her. A short ladder was laying on the floor of the tunnel nearby and Tracy grabbed it. She stood the ladder underneath the door and climbed it, reaching her hand up when she got to the second last rung. She took hold of the handle and pulled. The door swung down on the opposite side of Tracy, revealing a dark tunnel with steel rungs protruding from the side. Shining her flashlight into the tunnel above her, Tracy was glad to see someone already climbing down. The plan had so far gone off without a hitch, and Tracy was determined to see it through.

"It's about time," said the woman now climbing onto the ladder.

"I missed you too," said Tracey. She shut the door and followed the woman down the ladder. On the ground, they hugged, and when they pulled apart, anyone watching them could have sworn they were seeing double.

"Thank you for this Tracy."

"You are my best friend, my twin sister. I would do anything for you, Zoe."

* * *

Tony walked into NCIS, a big smile on his face. The last three weeks had been slow, what with him being stuck on desk duty while his ribs healed. But all that was changing this morning. Tony was late for work, but he knew Gibbs wouldn't be angry. He had told him the night before that Brad had called to reschedule his appointment because he was going to be out of the state on business, and the only available appointment was in the morning. Gibbs had told Tony to go to the appointment and then come to work. At the appointment, Tony, who had been worried that three weeks wasn't long enough for him to completely heal, had been surprised. After several x-rays and a lung exam, Brad had declared that the two ribs had healed completely and that Tony's lungs had healed properly to the best they could hope for. He had given Tony the all clear to go back into the field, and that was why Tony was currently sporting a massive smile that lit up his whole face.

"How did the appointment go Tony?" asked Gibbs just as Tony sat down behind his desk.

"Great. Brad is letting me go back to field work. My ribs have completely healed and my lungs are as good as can be," said Tony happily.

"I'm glad. We've missed having you out there."

"So, can I join you today?"

"You can. We have a new case."

"Great, let's go." Tony stood again and picked up his bag.

"Tony, wait. The case came from Leavenworth. Prisoner escape."

"So?"

"So... the prisoner is Zoe Keates."

Tony's face dropped. "She's out there somewhere?"

"Unfortunately. You don't have to work this one if you don't want to."

"I'm good. Let's go while the trail is still hot." Tony walked to the elevator, but his earlier mood had soured.

Gibbs gestured for the rest of the team to follow and they, too, walked to the elevator. All three were worried about Tony. He had only just healed from Zoe's last attack; what would happen if she got to him now?


	2. Chapter 2

The scene was eerie. The tunnel was now brightly lit from all of the forensics teams that had been called in, but, for Tony and the team, only one thing stood out. Someone had etched a message into the tunnel wall. Tony moved forward to read the scrawled letters and gasped. He caught Gibbs' attention, and, within seconds, Gibbs was standing next to Tony, gesturing for McGee to take Tony back out of the tunnel. But Tony refused to move. He reached out and touched the already examined wall, re-reading the message for the fifth time:

 _You are my world Tony, but you put me in prison. Now you are a dead man walking. Love, Z._

"Tony, it's time to go," said Gibbs quietly.

Tony still didn't move. He had gone pale, and tears were streaming down his cheeks. Gibbs took his arm gently and turned him around, gently pushing him forward until the were back out of the tunnel.

"McGee, take Bishop with you and go follow that trail. I know people already have, but you two are better than them. Find her, before she gets to Tony," Gibbs whispered to his junior agent.

McGee nodded. He grabbed Bishop's arm and pulled her away, explaining their task when they were well out of Tony's earshot.

"Tony, listen to me. I will not let that woman near you. I promise you, she won't hurt you," said Gibbs firmly.

"What about Emma? I don't want her to be hurt," said Tony.

"I'll get Emma a protective detail or put her in a safe house. You are the one I'm worried about."

"I need to tell Emma." Tony dried his eyes with a tissue Gibbs handed him. "Boss, I need to go talk to Emma right now."

"Okay. But I'm coming with you."

Tony didn't argue. He got into the car and let Gibbs drive them to Bethesda Hospital. But, once they were there, Tony was out of the car in a flash. He was already inside the hospital doors by the time Gibbs got out.

* * *

"Hey Tony," said Emma happily. "How are you? Brad told me that he cleared you for field work."

"Emma, we need to talk, in private," said Tony.

His tone scared Emma. She nodded, took his hand, and led him into a private, unoccupied room. "What's going on?"

Tony opened his mouth, then closed it again. He didn't know where to start.

"You can tell me anything, Tony. What's wrong?"

"Zoe... she's... she escaped from prison. She's after me."

"Okay. So get protection. I'm sure Agent Gibbs will provide protection for you."

"I'm surrounded by agents all the time, and I carry a gun Emma. It's you I'm scared for. I don't want anything to happen to you. Truly, you are the best thing that's ever happened to me. If I lose you, I don't know what I'll do."

Emma softened. With a smile, she gave Tony a hug. "I'm okay here. But, if you're really that worried, I'll accept whatever protection I'm given."

"Thank you," whispered Tony. He pulled Emma into his arms, holding her close like she was about to disappear on him.

* * *

Zoe led Tracy into the safe house she had once used when she was undercover. It was well stocked with weapons and ammunition, everything they might need for the next day or two. Zoe was planning on kidnapping Tony, and then Tracy had organised a perfect escape plan. She would take them to LA, where she had everything she needed until the could escape on Tracy's yacht. They had developed a fool proof plan that had no chance of being broken. Or at least, that's what they hoped anyway.

"Tracy, are you sure about this? I don't know if it's a good idea," said Zoe. She had wanted to get out of jail, but not like this. Her plan was to appeal her conviction in court, get a reduced sentence.

"Trust me Zoe, this is going to work out perfect. I'll bet you that DiNozzo will walk into the trap by the end of today."

"Emma shouldn't be bait. She has nothing to do with this."

"She's in the way. Do you want Tony or not?"

"I do."

"Then she has got to go. Don't worry, I won't hurt her."

Zoe shuddered. She didn't like this plan one bit. But she knew Tracy, knew what she could be like. She had CIA training after all. She had to warn Tony somehow.

"Hungry?" Tracy called from the kitchen.

"No."

Zoe sighed. She went into the bedroom and changed. Then she went back into the living room, hoping that Tony wouldn't fall for their plan.

* * *

Tony walked out of the hospital with Gibbs. He felt better now that he had spoken to Emma. He wasn't even paying attention to his surroundings until he walked into someone.

"Sorry," Tony said.

The man grunted, so Tony shrugged and continued walking. Gibbs was already at the car, and Tony was just about to reach the passenger side when he felt something hard hit him from behind. He dropped to the ground and saw Gibbs running over, gun out, before he blacked out.


	3. Chapter 3

Gibbs raced into the bull pen, phone in hand. He went straight to his computer and pushed several keys before slamming his fists on the desk in anger and frustration.

"Boss?" McGee asked.

"Can you trace Tony's phone?" Gibbs demanded.

"Of course." McGee pressed some keys on his keyboard. In a minute, he had Tony's cell phone up on a map. "He's in Shenandoah Park. Is he following a lead?"

"No. He was kidnapped. I couldn't get there quick enough. Tim, get Bishop and meet me there."

Gibbs ran back to the car. He was leaving the Navy Yard when McGee and Bishop came rushing into the garage.

* * *

Zoe was shocked when she saw Tony. Tracy's friend, Max, had dragged him into the living room, unconscious. The back of Tony's head looked odd, like his skull had been crushed. She climbed off the couch and bent next to Tony. Despite what she had done almost a month earlier, she still cared for Tony very much. Zoe reached out and touched Tony's head, feeling an odd shaped bone inside his head. She had been right, his skull was broken. If he even survived this, Tony was going to need extensive surgery to mend the bones. It was possible that he wouldn't survive even with medical interventions.

"Tracy, what the hell did you do to him?" Zoe screamed.

"Relax, Zoe, he'll be fine." Tracy lifted her sister up. "Ready to go? We have a thirty eight hour drive ahead of us." She pulled Tony's phone from his jacket pocket and dropped next to her foot, smashing it with one swift move. Then she grabbed Tony's limp body and dragged him out the back door.

* * *

Gibbs, McGee and Bishop pulled up at the small suburban house that McGee had tracked Tony's phone to. They didn't think that Tony would still be there, but they hoped they would find something to help them.

"Boss!" shouted Bishop from the backyard.

"Got something?"

"Blood trail. It leads from inside the house. And there are tyre tracks over there." Bishop pointed to a gravel area.

"They're gone. Damn it!" Gibbs swore and then headed back to the car. He had no doubt the blood would be Tony's.

* * *

Zoe felt sick. They had been on the road for two hours now with Tony in the trunk. He hadn't woken up yet, and Zoe was worried. He had been out for much longer than two hours and there was no way that he would be waking up anytime soon. She was getting anxious, hoping they would get pulled up by police or something as soon as possible, when Max pulled into a little cafe/gas station. He got out and ran for the toilets, quickly followed by Tracy. Seeing her one and only chance, Zoe got out once they had disappeared into their respective toilets and headed into the gas station section of the building. She went straight to the public phone at the back of the shop and dialed the NCIS hotline number.

"NCIS, what service do you need?" asked a sweet sounding woman.

"I need to speak with Agent Gibbs. Tell him it's Zoe Keates." She knew that they would trace the call now.

A moment later, a click was heard and then Gibbs was on the line. "Keates? What the hell are you playing at? Where are you?"

"Two hours out of DC. Listen Gibbs, I know this is going to sound strange, but it's the truth. I did not kidnap Tony. My sister, Tracy Keller, and her partner, Max, did. They've got Tony in the trunk of their car- a light blue Honda Civic. He's unconscious and his skull is broken. We're on the way to LA. Please, you have to meet us there. You have to. I don't want Tony to die."

"Stay where you are Keates. Don't let Tony out of your sight, or I swear to God that you will never see daylight again."

"I can't. We stopped for a toilet break, and they're already back in the car. I have to go. Just hurry!" Zoe left the phone dangling and ran back to the car, having stolen three packs of chips as a diversion.

* * *

Gibbs slammed his phone down. "McGee! Book us three tickets to LA on the next available flight. Tony's in trouble and I want to be there when the people that kidnapped him arrive in LA. Bishop, get me everything you can on Tracy Keller and someone named Max that is connected to her. When you get that, meet me in MTAC."

The two agents watched their boss almost fly up the stairs and through the doors to MTAC before setting about their tasks.

* * *

"Hey Gibbs," said Callen cheerfully. "What can OSP do for you?"

"I need your help Callen. One of my agents has been kidnapped. They're heading to LA by car. McGee is booking us flights as we speak, hopefully we'll be there by the end of the day."

"Who kidnapped the agent?"

"Three people. Max, no last name. Tracy Keller. Zoe Keates."

"Did you say Tracy Keller?"

"Yes. Why? You know her?"

"She was my old partner when I was in the CIA. What is she doing in DC?"

"Breaking her sister, Zoe, out of prison and kidnapping a federal agent."

"Alright. I'll keep an eye out. Just get here quickly. And which agent is missing?"

"DiNozzo."

"Tony? I like him."

"Then find him. Callen, I want him alive when he's found. I know he's got head injuries, but I want my agent back alive."


	4. Chapter 4

Gibbs, Bishop and McGee were in a hurry to get off the plane as soon as it landed. The flight staff knew they were from NCIS and had ensured that they were at the front of the plane so they were the first to get off. But it was still going to be a bit of a wait while the bags were removed from the luggage compartment of the plane. So they were standing at the front of the crowd of passengers, waiting while a particularly heavy bag was dragged out of the plane. Gibbs waited impatiently until a loud thump was heard, quickly followed screams. Gibbs looked at the baggage handlers that were standing stock still, and wondered what was happening. He didn't have to wait long to find out though. A security guard came running over to get Gibbs and his team.

"Agent Gibbs, we have an issue," he said.

"Look, as much as I want to help..."

"There's an unconscious guy on top of the baggage. He looks like he's injured."

"Call an ambulance. I have to get going..."

"I think he's that missing agent you sent photos of."

"It's Tony?" Gibbs followed the security guard to the pile of bags that everyone was staring at. "Get an ambulance!" he shouted as he ran forward and pressed two fingers against Tony's neck. "DiNozzo, don't you die on me now. We're going to get you to a hospital, okay? Just keep breathing for me."

Gibbs heard two people shouting for someone to get on the ground, but his attention was on Tony. He could see that the young man was breathing, but it was shallow and sporadic. It was worrying. In the distance, Gibbs could hear sirens, and a little closer, he could hear someone calling his name. He didn't look up though, he just kept focusing on Tony. He was hoping that his senior agent would just wake up and give him a goofy smile, say he was alright, and get up, ready for work. He wanted this to be nothing more than a nightmare.

"Boss," said McGee, almost in his ear this time. "Paramedics are here. They need you to move so they can get to Tony."

Gibbs shook his head, not wanting to leave.

"Boss, he's going to be in good hands. They already told me they're going to take him to Sunshine State Hospital, just a few miles from here. He'll get the care he needs while we deal with the people that took him." McGee grabbed Gibbs' arms and held onto him as he moved, eyes still on Tony, until the medics had Tony in the back of the ambulance.

* * *

"Is that Tony?" Brad asked as he walked past the newest patient coming into emergency. "It is. What the hell happened?!"

"Dr Pitt? Is there a problem?" asked Dr Lions. The specialist was the person that Brad had come to meet.

"I know this isn't my workplace, but I want Tony under my care. I want him flown back to DC with me."

"Agent DiNozzo needs scans and most likely surgery. But after that, yes, you can take him back to DC."

"What happened?"

"All we know is he was found in the trunk of a car, already unconscious, with head injuries. According to the people at the scene, he was kidnapped yesterday morning," said a paramedic.

"Kidnapped? Okay, you know what, that's not important at the moment. How bad are the head injuries?"

Dr Lions started wheeling Tony down to get a CT scan. Brad followed.

"Even just by touching the back of his head, you can feel that his skull is broken. I would say that he's going to have, at the very least, some swelling on his brain where the bone is broken."

Brad was shocked. He had just seen Tony the day before and given him the all clear. Now Tony was fighting for his life, not even two days later. "I want to help."

"Sure. We could use the extra hands." The doctor stopped pushing the bed and moved around to Tony's right side. "Help me lift him."

"Be careful when you scan his body. He has two titanium plates in his rib cage, on the right side. We put them in roughly three weeks ago to support his ribs while they were healing."

"Three weeks ago? What has this guy been through?"

"Honestly? He was shot, but his bulletproof vest stopped the bullet, leaving him with two broken ribs. They were healing well until the person responsible for him getting shot came to finish him off. Tony tried to stop her, to defend himself, and he succeeded, but the exertion and movement caused his ribs to completely break off the rest of the rib cage and they moved. One punctured his right lung. I saw him yesterday morning before I flew out here and gave him the all clear to go back to work in his full capacity. And he has had lung problems in the past too, though they haven't really been an issue unless there's another problem."

"Poor guy. As if he hadn't been through enough. Whoever did this to him ought to be shot, in my opinion."

"If I had my way, the culprit would be dead already and this would never have happened."

Both doctors were angry. They put their anger away though, focusing on Tony and getting him scanned so they knew what they needed to do.

* * *

Gibbs looked at where the security guards where standing with Bishop. There were three people in front of them, hands cuffed behind their backs. The one on the left was instantly recognisable and she made Gibbs' blood boil with anger. He stormed over, being careful not to bump into any innocent bystanders.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" he demanded of Zoe.

She hung her head, though she was relieved that Gibbs had found Tony.

"I want them sent to this address," said Gibbs to a security guard. He handed over a paper with the boat shed's address, where Callen had sent his team to wait.'

"Of course." The guard gestured to his partner and they escorted the three kidnappers to a car.


	5. Chapter 5

At the boat shed, Callen was trying to calm Gibbs down before he entered the interrogation room where Kensi was currently talking to Zoe. He could understand the older man's anger, especially after Callen and his team had gone to Afghanistan to save Kensi. But he also didn't want to let Gibbs do something he might regret later on.

"Callen, I swear, if Tony doesn't make it..." said Gibbs angrily.

"He'll be alright, you know that. Now, if you want to go in there, you need to calm down. Getting angry doesn't solve anything. Take it from me," said Callen calmly.

Gibbs looked torn. He wanted to let Zoe feel his anger, but he wanted answers. And he wanted them fast. As soon as he was done with Zoe, he wanted to go to the hospital and stay with Tony. With a deep breath, Gibbs finally swallowed his anger and went into the interrogation room, standing against the wall away from Zoe. He listened as Kensi spoke.

"Zoe, you need to tell us what happened. If you want us to even think about offering you any kind of a deal, you better tell us the truth, and fast. Agent DiNozzo may not make it..."

"Don't you think I know that?" exclaimed Zoe, her eyes shining with tears. "It wasn't my idea!"

"Then tell us who came up with the idea." Kensi was getting frustrated. She didn't know how Gibbs had managed to deal with this woman, both at work and after she had caused Tony to get hurt.

"If Tony dies, I swear that you will be wishing you were never born Keates!" shouted Gibbs, startling Zoe.

Suddenly, Zoe opened her mouth and words just came pouring out. "I wanted to get out of prison, yeah, but not like that. My plan was to appeal the conviction in a court of law. I had never even thought about escaping. My mistake was talking to Tracy about it. I told her that I went to prison because of Tony, but I never imagined that she would try to hurt him. Honestly, I trusted her when she said that she would get me out. I thought she had meant legally. If I had known what she was planning on doing, I wouldn't have gone along with it."

"How could you not know? You willingly climbed out of that tunnel," said Gibbs.

"Yes, but I only found out about the plan the night before. I guess I should have told a guard or something, but I love my sister. I couldn't betray her trust. After she got me out, I let her take me to an old safe house. I thought that it would end there, but, no. We were there maybe ten minutes when Max came in, dragging Tony behind him. Poor Tony, he was unconscious, and when Max dropped him in the living room, I could see something just wasn't right. The back of his head looked misshapen. When I went over, I could feel the back of his skull was broken."

"Why didn't you stop them? Or call the police?" asked Kensi.

"I wanted to. But they never left me alone for more than a couple of minutes. I'm sure Tracy knew that I wanted out. I didn't know what to do, and then when we stopped for a bathroom break on the drive to LA, I got my chance. I ran inside and used the public phone to call you Gibbs."

"You told me you were driving all the way," said Gibbs angrily.

"I thought we would. But we stopped an hour after I called you and sneaked into the airport. The plane's luggage compartment was open, so we climbed in, dragging Tony behind us. He was never meant to roll out in LA. That was an accident." Zoe's tears were now falling freely down her cheeks.

Gibbs sighed. He knew Zoe had feelings for Tony still, but he was finally happy, and there was no way Gibbs would ever let Zoe have a relationship with him again.

* * *

Twenty minutes later, Gibbs had a full confession from Zoe. She had signed the written copy. There was no way out now. Gibbs had left Kensi in the room to cuff Zoe and bring her out for transport to DC, where the prison guards from Leavenworth would be waiting to take Zoe back to her cell.

"Gibbs, I had Deeks call the hospital. Tony is in surgery, and most likely will be for the next several hours. The doctors wouldn't tell Deeks anything, but they did say that Tony is being cared for by a Doctor Brad Pitt," Callen said, sounding confused.

Gibbs relaxed a little. At least Tony was in good hands. "Brad's a good guy. And yes, that's his real name. Brad has been Tony's main physician for the last eleven years."

"Why's he in LA?"

"Tony said a couple of days ago that Brad had a meeting to go to, so I guess that's why."

Callen nodded. "The doctors did tell Deeks that if he could find Tony's next of kin or emergency contact, they would talk to that person. I'm guessing Tony would have you listed as both?"

Gibbs nodded. "I'm the emergency contact for my whole team, as I'm sure you are for your team."

"Actually, the only person that had me down as an emergency contact was Kens, and now that she has her mother back in her life, that's changed. Though, I do have permission from all of them to be a point of contact."

"Okay. I need to go to the hospital Callen. Can I borrow a car?"

Callen chucked over some keys. "Take mine. It's out the back in the parking lot."


	6. Chapter 6

Brad was worried. He was trying to hide it, but he was worried. Tony hadn't responded to anyone or anything when the doctors had done their tests. His scans had shown that his brain was swollen, thankfully not too much, and his skull had a depressed fracture. Again, the fracture wasn't extreme, but if it wasn't fixed, it could become quite life-threatening. A piece of the broken bone was just resting on the back of Tony's brain, which was why his brain was swollen, so the hope was that, by removing the broken bone and putting it back where it belonged, the swelling would go down and Tony would wake up. Of course, there was always the chance that, even if he woke up, their would be problems, potentially lifelong problems. It was a lot to take in, so he couldn't even imagine what might be going through Gibbs' head. And it made him feel scared too, because he was the one that had to tell Gibbs what was going on.

Soon, the door to the operating room opened and a nurse walked in. "Dr Pitt, an Agent Gibbs is here to see you," she said and then walked out again.

"Dr Lions, I'm going to speak with Tony's emergency contact. Is there anything good to tell?" asked Brad, hoping that he wouldn't be giving all bad information.

"We've managed to move the bone back into place. We're going to glue it back together and then check the rest of the area before we close up. It'll probably be about another hour," said Dr Lions as he continued to work inside Tony's head.

Brad breathed a small sigh of relief. He was glad that the damage was as bad as they first thought.

* * *

"Gibbs," said Brad when he entered the waiting room.

"Brad, how's Tony? How bad is it?" asked Gibbs.

"Tony's still in surgery, but it's looking good right now. The scans we took of his brain showed that his skull is fractured, and a bone was resting on his brain, making it swell up. Doctor Lions, a neurologist, is in there now. He's moved the bone back into place and is repairing it as we speak. It will still be at least another hour before Tony's out of there though."

"How long has he been in surgery?"

"We're going on the fourth hour now."

"Four hours?" Gibbs ran a hand through his hair, feeling helpless and frustrated. "Does he have other injuries?"

"He's got multiple bruises that will hurt him for a few days. They cover most of his body. But they aren't worrying. He'll be kept in a coma until his brain heals, which could be a couple of days, and I'll be taking him home after the surgery. I have a flight booked for tonight with a medi-vac plane. We'll be in DC in less than three hours."

"Three? We took five hours to get here by plane."

"Medi-vacs take less time because they can go faster. And because the patients on board need to be in a hospital."

"I won't be able to come. I still have two people to interrogate and they're playing hard ball with us."

"Can Abby meet me at the hospital?"

Gibbs nodded. "I'll have Ducky meet you too."

"Thank you. I'm going to head back into the surgery and look out for Tony. Call Abby and Dr Mallard, tell them I'll be landing in DC at eight pm, then flying by helicopter to the hospital. It'll take me less than thirty minutes to get from the airport to the hospital."

Gibbs grabbed his phone and dialed Ducky's number while Brad headed back to the operating room.

* * *

"Hi Jethro, did you find our Tony?"

"I found him Duck," said Gibbs, trying hard not to cry.

"Is he coming home?"

"Yes..."

"But?"

"But, he's coming home via a medi-vac flight. Duck, Tony's got a severe head injury. He's in surgery now, has been for the last four hours."

"Do you want me to call Brad and let him know?"

"He knows already, he's here. He was in a meeting when Tony was brought to the hospital."

"So, he's coming back with Anthony?"

"Yeah, he'll be with Tony. I need you and Abby to get to the hospital and meet him there. He should be there no later than eight thirty tonight."

"We'll be there Jethro. You focus on bringing his attacker to justice."

"Three attackers, Duck. Three. Zoe is already on her way back to DC and to jail. I have her signed statement with me. The other two, they seem like they want to pin it all on Zoe."

"And you don't believe them?"

"They were there with Zoe and Tony. And they weren't surprised about it. They are involved, and if Zoe is to be believed, they orchestrated this whole thing."

"Do you believe her?"

"I don't know. There are a lot of points that she made though that seem credible to me."

"Then pretend you believe her and get into the other two interrogations. Make them admit what they did. I'll take care of Tony, you worry about the people that put him in this position." Ducky heard the unspoken thank you and said goodbye, hanging up to go and talk to Abby.


	7. Chapter 7

"Bishop, McGee," said Gibbs as he entered the boat shed again.

"Boss, is Tony okay?" asked McGee worriedly.

"No. He's still in surgery, like he has been for the last four and a half hours. Brad's with him, thankfully, and will be taking him back to DC when he comes out of surgery, hopefully in the next half hour."

"How bad were the head injuries?" asked Callen, coming up next to Bishop.

"His skull is fractured. A piece of bone moved out of place and pressed up against the back of his brain, causing it to swell. Brad's told me that the swelling should go down once the bone is back in place, but they're going to be putting him into a coma while his brain heals anyway."

"He'll be alright Gibbs."

"How do you know?" Gibbs said angrily. "Sorry."

"That's alright."

"They have put him in the position he's in right now. I swear that if Tony dies or has any kind of a disability when we wakes up, I will murder them."

Callen turned his old friend around and guided him back out into the marina. A light breeze hit them, cooling them down a little from the heat of the day. They walked together for a few minutes, both silent, until they reached an empty bench. Sitting down, Callen watched Gibbs. The older man was silent, anger radiating from him in palpable waves.

"I can't believe this," Gibbs finally said. "Tony just recovered from Zoe's stupidity. Now he's back in hospital, worse than the last time. I can't lose him. He's not just an agent, he's my friend. I trust him with my life, literally, and I know that I can trust me like that."

"You won't lose him Gibbs. Tony is strong. He'll get through this, especially with you by his side. He was there for you when you were blown up, and now you can be there for him. Trust me on this, I know how hard it is to watch your partner get hurt, and I know how helpful it is to have your partner there when you're the one that's hurt."

Gibbs smiled, grateful to Callen. Normally, a speech would make him angry. But this was not a normal day. Sure, Tony had been injured in the line of duty many times before- he had gotten the plague, he'd been shot numerous times, he'd even been kidnapped once or twice. But he had never been this bad before. He had never been unconscious this long before. It was scary to think that something serious could happen right now.

* * *

McGee and Bishop sat at the table in the boat shed, lost in thought. They were worried about Tony, and were just as scared as Gibbs was. It was quiet in the room, everyone lost in thought. Sam, Kensi and Deeks had only met Tony once, but they had liked him immediately. Nobody wanted him to be hurt, especially not something so severe.

"Guys," said Eric over the monitor at the end of the table.

"Yeah Eric?" asked Sam.

"I've got something for you. How's Agent DiNozzo?"

Sam shook his head. "Not good. What have you got?"

"I found this footage from DC. It took me a while to get it because I had to deal with jurisdictional issues."

"Put it up."

A few seconds later, a video started. It was from a security camera outside what looked like a hospital. The group watched as Tony fell to the ground and didn't move. They saw Gibbs racing into the camera's view, his gun drawn. He was yelling something, but without sound, they couldn't make it out. Then they saw Gibbs drop his gun to his side. He bent over for a moment, and when he stood back up, Tony was gone.

"Stop the video Eric," said Deeks. "Poor Gibbs. He must be beating himself up. I know how that feels." Deeks looked at Kensi. "At least I got you back unharmed."

"Yeah. I can't imagine how he must be feeling. I'd be blaming myself if that was me," said Kensi, tears prickling at the corner of her eyes.

"It's alright," said Bishop suddenly. "This is Tony we're talking about. That guy doesn't stop. He's determined. Tony will get through this. He'll be fine. He was doing a cleanse a few months back and he actually stuck to it all week long like he said he would."

"Yeah, Ellie's right," said McGee. "Tony will be just fine."

Sam nodded. Taking their lead, since Tony was their friend and teammate, he gestured for Deeks to follow McGee into the interrogation room where Max was being held.

* * *

Gibbs finally allowed himself to breathe a sigh of relief. He had vented his feelings by talking to Callen, and, even though he was still very deeply worried about Tony, he felt somewhat better. He took a couple more deep breaths, then stood.

"Let's go, they'll be waiting for us, and Sam will be waiting for you to start interrogating Tracy." Gibbs purposefully strode back towards the boat shed with Callen right behind him.


	8. Chapter 8

Brad followed Dr Lions up to the helipad on top of the hospital, where a helicopter had just landed to take Tony and Brad to the airport. The surgery had taken less than the hour that Brad had told to Gibbs, but Tony still hadn't woken. The anesthesia had worn off almost three hours ago, but, as predicted, the head injuries were severe enough that they had decided to put him into an induced coma while the swelling subsided. No-one knew how long that would take, and Brad was hoping that a couple of days would be enough.

"This is Anthony DiNozzo," Dr Lions was yelling to the pilot. "And Doctor Brad Pitt. They have a medi-vac waiting at LAX to take them back to DC!"

The pilot nodded, said something Brad couldn't hear, and then Dr Lions was helping the pilot load Tony into the helicopter. Brad climbed in after them and strapped himself into his seat, then watched as the pilot fixed the machines so they wouldn't move around during the flight.

* * *

The helicopter landed right near the waiting medi-vac plane. Air paramedics were already outside the plane, waiting for their patient to be brought out of the helicopter.

"Dr Pitt?"

"That's me," said Brad to one of the medics.

"How's your patient doing?"

"Not great, but as best as we can expect right now. I need him to be in DC ASAP."

"It'll take us roughly three hours to get from here to DC. We have a chopper waiting at Dulles to take you and the patient to Bethesda Naval Hospital."

"Thank you." Brad liked the short, sharp answers. It told him they were there to do a job, and nothing more. It was reassuring to know that Tony was in safe hands, even twenty thousand feet above the ground.

The paramedic loaded Tony into the plane, let Brad in next, then climbed in as well. He sat in a seat halfway down the bed where he was able to access all the machines and any part of Tony should the need arise.

"Dr Pitt, is Mr DiNozzo unconscious of his own will or by medical intervention?"

"Both, technically. He was unconscious even after the anesthetic wore off, and now he's been put into an induced coma."

The medic nodded. He looked over at Tony's face, where the breathing tube Dr Lions had inserted after the surgery had come slightly loose. He leaned forward and opened Tony's mouth, gently pushing the tube further into Tony's throat until it stopped moving around.

"Hopefully, he will wake up after this," said the medic, looking at the man that could so easily have been his son. "I wouldn't know what to do if he was my family, I can't imagine how his family must be feeling right now."

"They're terrified, devastated. His boss is like a father to him, and he was on the verge of crying. I have never seen that man cry before, and I've known him more than eleven years now."

The medic sighed, understanding that it was hard for everyone involved, including the treating doctors and nurses.

* * *

The flight to DC felt longer than three hours. In fact, it had been just under three hours, but it still felt like a lifetime. Brad was anxious to get to the hospital and put Tony in a safe environment where he had the best chance of recovering. Currently, they were in the helicopter that had been waiting for them, almost twenty minutes into the flight. They had roughly ten minutes of flight time left before the reached Bethesda's helipad, and it just seemed to drag. So, when they finally landed five minutes later, Brad was happy. He was the first out of the helicopter, and stood on the helipad while Tony was unloaded. Then he took hold of the side of the bed and wheeled Tony into the emergency department, without waiting for help from the medics that were clearly just as worried as he was.

"Brad? What happened?" asked Emma, as she rushed in. Fear was written all over her face when she saw Tony laying on the bed.

"It's a long story Em. Help me get him to the ICU. And I need a CT scan of his head and brain ASAP." Brad knew Emma was worried, but he had to keep her focused.

"I've already set the machine up, we can go there first. And Amelia set up a room in the ICU while we waited. How bad is it?"

"Bad. Em, he may not wake up this time." Brad's voice quivered as he spoke, and he could see the tears in Emma's eyes.

"He will wake up! He will. This is Tony DiNozzo, the most stubborn man on the planet. He will wake up." Emma took a deep breath and then took over wheeling the bed to the radiology department. "I won't let him leave me."

Brad smiled. Emma was the bravest person he knew, and he was glad that Tony had her in his corner.

* * *

Two hours later, Brad and Emma were finally wheeling Tony into his room in the intensive care unit. His scans had been the same as the ones taken before surgery, except this time, the back of his skull was intact, with only a slight indication of where the fractures were. Both were satisfied that Tony's brain would heal in a couple of days, but neither were convinced that he would ever get better, if he even woke up.

"Dr Pitt?" asked a small voice from a chair near the window.

Brad looked up and saw Abby. She had clearly been crying. Her eyes were red and she clutched a tissue in her hand.

"Abby, I wish I had good news," said Brad softly. He went over and sat on the window sill while Emma fixed the machines around the bed.

"How did this happen?"

"Whoever it was that kidnapped Tony, may he rot in hell, hit the back of Tony's head hard enough that the skull was fractured. We did repair the damage before we left LA, so that will let his brain heal."

"But you don't think he'll wake up."

"It's a possibility. Of course, I want him to wake up, but I also know how bad things are right now."

"He's going to wake up, as soon as we bring him out of this coma, he'll wake up and start with his numerous movie quotes," said Emma miserably from where she had sat on the bed. "Brad, my shift is over, so I'm going to stay here a while."

"That's fine Em. Stay as long as you want. You too Abby. Where's Dr Mallard?"

"Ducky went to get some tea," said Abby, who had never intended on leaving Tony.

"I'm going to see if I can find him, fill him in on Tony's condition. If either of you need anything, or if, by some miracle, Tony wakes up, call me. Emma, if it's urgent, page me." Brad left the two women alone and went looking for Ducky.


	9. Chapter 9

Abby looked up from her phone when she heard sniffling coming from the bed. She looked at Emma and felt bad for the poor woman, so she got up and went over.

"You know, Emma, you were right before, when you said he would wake up and start with his movie quotes," said Abby. "I have never met a man so determined, so driven before. Tony is one of a kind. He loves you, and I know that he'll wake up soon, even if it's only because he wants to be with you."

Emma smiled. She was grateful that Abby liked her. "Thank you Abby," she said. "It means a lot. I know how hard this must be for you. Tony's your friend, and he's been your friend longer than I've known him."

"Yeah, he has. That's why I know that I'm right when I say Tony won't give up. Ever. He has never given up trying to get Gibbs to be proud of him, he's never given up trying to find the right person for himself. He's never given up on anything. He won't start now." Abby smiled and put her arms around Emma, hugging her tight. "I promise."

* * *

Brad finally found Ducky in the staff kitchen, making tea. He looked like he had cried a little as well, but he had been able to calm himself a lot better than Abby had.

"Hi Dr Mallard," said Brad once Ducky had turned around.

"Ah, Dr Pitt. How is Anthony?" asked Ducky.

"Tony is unconscious. He's in an induced coma for the next couple of days while the swelling on his brain goes down. Hopefully, when we bring him out of the coma, he'll wake up on his own."

"How bad is the fracture?"

"It was pretty bad. It's been fixed up and put back in place, but it's going to take quite a while for the bone to fully heal itself."

Ducky nodded. He grabbed his tea and walked out of the kitchen with Brad. They continued talking about the possible effects and issues that Tony could have once he woke up before Brad said goodnight, and they went their separate ways.

* * *

The next morning, Abby woke to find herself alone in Tony's room. She blinked a couple of times, and then got out of her seat and went over to the bed. Tony hadn't moved and nothing had changed since the previous night, but Abby sat on the bed anyway. When she looked him over, Abby was shocked at how pale he looked now that it was daylight. The white bandage around his head was in stark contrast to the greyish colour of his skin. Even the tubes and monitors Tony was hooked up to were a shock to see: they all seemed darker than his skin was too. Moving her eyes away, she took his hand and squeezed it gently.

"Hi Tony. You probably can't hear me right now, but it's Abby. I'm not going to leave you. We all want you to wake up and come back to us. Okay? I brought Bert with me, cause I thought that maybe you might like to have him with you. I put him on the shelf for now, so when you wake up, he'll be here for you. Emma stayed here last night, too. She cried a lot. She's scared. I don't think anything can fix that until you wake up, alright? Now, I know that you have a bad head injury, and that your brain is swollen, but that's no excuse for you to stay asleep. Wake up. You are so lucky that Gibbs isn't here, or he would smack your head so hard, it would startle you into waking up." Abby smiled at the thought.

* * *

Gibbs walked into the boat shed with Callen at nine thirty the morning after Tony had been flown home. He hadn't been able to sleep because all he could do was worry. It didn't help when Ducky called to tell him that, even with Tony under Brad's care in Bethesda's ICU, the chances of him getting through this were slim. Gibbs was so angry, he couldn't see straight. He couldn't wait to see what McGee had been able to get from Max, and he really hoped that Sam and Callen would be able to get a confession out of Tracy. He wanted to get home to Tony, and the longer it took to get confessions from the two people still in LA, the longer it took for Gibbs to see Tony. He had sent Bishop home the night before, once he knew that Tony was in the hospital in DC, to work the case from their office and to watch over Tony, but he still wanted to be there when Tony woke up.

"Gibbs, I'm going in there. You can watch the interrogation from the monitor. Deeks, Kensi and McGee will be here soon, and they'll fill you in their interrogation. Deeks said that they were able to get a partial confession, but I haven't seen it yet, so I don't know how much they got. Okay?" asked Callen.

"Yeah." Gibbs sat at the table and stared at the monitor in front of him. He watched as Sam looked at the door and welcomed his partner into the room. He saw Tracy's face go pale at the sight of her old partner and the look he had on his face. Gibbs smirked, liking how Callen frightened the woman.

"Boss?" said McGee behind him.

"Yeah Tim?"

"Bishop texted. Zoe is back in prison under heavy guard. Vance is getting her trial date moved up and the charges amended."

"Good. Did she see Tony yet?"

"No, but Abby was there all night. She sent a message early this morning to say there was no change overnight, but the doctor and nurses didn't seem too worried about that."

Gibbs nodded. "Thank you Tim. I had Callen book you a flight back to DC. It leaves at three this afternoon. I want you back home, because when Tony wakes up, I want you there. I'll try to be there by then, but I won't be leaving until both of these people have confessed to their crimes."

"Got it boss." McGee looked at his watch. He still had five hours before his flight, which meant he had three hours to watch the interrogation before he had to leave.

"Callen said you got a confession?"

"We did," said Deeks as he and Kensi sat down. "Max told us enough for us to charge him with assaulting a federal agent, with kidnapping, and possibly with coercion."

"Who did he coerce?"

"According to him, he and Tracy tricked Zoe Keates into thinking that they were going to kidnap Tony so she could have him for herself."

"She said the same thing before you came into the room Agent Gibbs," said Kensi.

Gibbs nodded slowly. "They corroborate each other's stories. I want him charged with all three of those crimes."

Deeks and Kensi nodded. They stood up and walked into the second interrogation room, read out the charges and then let the agent standing outside the room cuff Max and take him out of the boat shed.


	10. Chapter 10

Callen sat down at the table in the interrogation room, anger written all over his face.

"You've really done it this time, Tracy," he said. "You assaulted a federal agent, then kidnapped him, stowed him in an airplane luggage compartment, then let him fall to the ground. He has a badly fractured skull, swelling on his brain, and he may never wake up. If that happens, you'll be going away for the rest of your life. Why did you do it?"

"Don't know what you;re talking about," Tracy said pleasantly. "You should ask Zoe though, she should be able to give you answers."

"You would throw your sister under the bus?"

"If she's innocent, then it won't matter what I say."

"Give it up," said Sam. "Your partner and your sister both made statements and got deals. They're only going to prison for a few years. They told us that you were the one to come up with the plan to kidnap Agent DiNozzo and then to let him die from his injuries. They said that you organised the car to get you to the airport and that you came up with the idea of improvising and hiding in the luggage compartment of a Boeing 747 for a five hour flight so you couldn't be caught by police on the road."

"I didn't do any of that stuff." Tracy put on a fake crying face. "You have to believe me," she sobbed, "it was all Zoe's idea. She thought she could win that agent over and get him back, and when it didn't work she forced Max and I to bring her and the agent out to LA. She wanted us to hide her so that when the police found the body, she wouldn't be caught."

"And you had absolutely no part in this?"

"Of course not."

Callen shook his head angrily. Vance had been able to get camera footage from the gas station they had stopped before going to Dulles Airport, as well as the copy of Zoe's conversation with Gibbs. There was some footage from a camera in a house across the street from Zoe's old safe house that showed the two women entering together, quickly followed by Max, dragging Tony. Callen pulled an iPad out and unlocked it. He tapped play and put the video in front of Tracy.

"That's you and Zoe. Big surprise, you're the one taking charge. Zoe looks like she wants to run away from you." Callen waited a moment, and then paused it. "Why are you pulling her into the house?"

"You have it wrong. She's the one pulling me in."

"I'm not blind or stupid Tracy. We worked together long enough for me to know you when I see you." Callen pressed play again, and let the video run until it came to the end. "Do you want to revise your statement? I have a lot more damning evidence."

Tracy paled. She hesitated, and then gave up. "Okay, yes, I coerced Zoe into escaping from jail and kidnapping Tony. I told Max to bring Tony to Zoe's old safe house. But knocking Tony that hard over the head, that wasn't part of the plan. I told Max to incapacitate Tony, not put his life in danger. He did that himself. I don't know why, maybe he saw Agent Gibbs, maybe he just felt threatened. Either way, that is all on him."

* * *

Gibbs glared at Tracy through the screen. He had long since sent McGee off to the airport, and Kensi and Deeks had gone back to their office for a while. He was alone in the empty boat shed. But he wouldn't have it any other way. He had already sworn a few times, and he felt more pissed than ever before. This woman wanted them to believe she was only responsible for kidnapping Tony? Gibbs didn't believe a word she said. He wanted to kill her with his bare hands. But he wouldn't. He wouldn't do it, because then he would end up in prison too, and the last thing anyone needed was a pissed off federal agent stuck in a prison cell when he was needed elsewhere.

"Gibbs," said Callen. "We're going to take her to a holding cell. Do you want her prosecuted in DC?"

"No. You deal with her. I need to get back home and get to Tony."

"I understand. I'll book you a flight on the next available one to DC. But even so, you won't get there before tomorrow."

"Doesn't matter. I'm going straight to the hospital when I get home. Callen, I swear to you, if something's wrong with Tony, in any way, I'll be back here and she won't know what hit her."

"I know that. Just go back and focus on Tony for now. I'll let you know what happens." Callen hugged Gibbs, something that they used to do all the time.

"Thank you Callen." Gibbs breathed a sigh of relief, then followed his friend back to their office.


	11. Chapter 11

It had now been two days since Tony had been found and operated on. Brad had taken Tony out of the coma that he had been in, but he was still unconscious. The swelling had gone down remarkably, and the bone was healing slowly, but everyone was still worried. McGee and Bishop were sitting in the waiting room with Abby while Ducky, Brad and Emma were checking him over, but no-one had much hope left anymore. They knew Gibbs would be there soon, and hoped that he would be able to wake Tony.

* * *

Gibbs walked into Bethesda's ICU and went straight to the room that McGee had told him Tony was in. He passed his team, but kept working, only one thing on his mind right then. He had to see Tony with his own eyes, then he needed to try and wake the agent up. His first thought had been to give Tony a head slap, but then he realised that a slap would just cause more problems. His new thought had been that he would just sit and talk, something he remembered Tony doing years ago when he was the one laying unconscious in a hospital bed.

"Duck?" asked Gibbs as he reached the door of Tony's room.

"Jethro, welcome home. Anthony is still unconscious, unfortunately, but you are welcome to sit with him," said Ducky. He looked at his friend's face. "Did you get confessions?"

"Yeah. Listen, Duck, I need time alone with Tony. I need to be in there for a while with him."

"Go ahead. Emma and Brad have gone back to work, and I was just leaving. I'll be in the waiting room with the others if you need anything." Ducky walked out, leaving Gibbs alone.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, Gibbs looked at his senior agent. Tony looked so vulnerable in the bed, and Gibbs couldn't help the hand that he placed on Tony's arm. Feeling quite fatherly all of a sudden, he felt tears burn his eyes. Refusing to let them fall, Gibbs reached up and stroked Tony's head, being careful not touch the bandage covering the majority of his head.

"Tony, I know you're hurting, but I need you to come back to me, alright? You aren't just an agent to me, you really have become a part of my family. You are my favourite, not that I want you getting a big head. But it's the truth. I know I'm not the nicest person to you, but it's only because I love you like a son, and I know it makes you feel safe and wanted. I've seen the reaction you have to me when I start being nice; I know you don't like it and you find it odd. That's why I can be horrible. But when it becomes too much for you, I need you to tell me, okay? If you can wake up for me, that would be great. I'll be here, even if I'm not in the room, I'll still be here for you. You'll stay with me, unless Emma wants you to live with her during your recovery. And I promise that anything you need, I'll get it or do it for you." Gibbs heard his voice wavering, but pushed through. "I promise that you can take the lead on cases more often, and I'll listen to you all the time, even when you start to become annoying. And I promise, no more head slaps. I know you got used to them, but I can't risk giving you another head injury. I'll just tell you off from now on."

Gibbs pulled his hand away from Tony's face and put it back onto his arm, being careful not to knock the IV that was there. He sighed, closed his eyes, and, just for a moment, made a silent prayer that Tony would be okay. He gave his agent a final look, then stood. He was just about to leave the room when he heard something behind him. Not a loud noise, just something quiet. He turned back, and a smile appeared on his face.

* * *

Tony listened to his boss talking, the small speech giving him a warm feeling. Slowly, the warmth spread from his heart to the rest of his body, and, suddenly, all he wanted to do was open his eyes like Gibbs had asked. It took a few tries, but eventually, Tony got his eyes open a small amount. Gibbs was walking to the door, and Tony didn't want him to leave.

"Boss," he said weakly. At first, he thought that he hadn't been heard, but then Gibbs stopped. "Boss?" Tony tried again, a little louder this time.

Tony watched as Gibbs turned, saw the smile on his face. He felt relieved that Gibbs had heard him.

"Tony, welcome back," said Gibbs softly. He stuck his head out the door and called something out, but it wasn't anything Tony could make out.

"Boss, where am I?" Tony said quietly when Gibbs came and sat on the bed again.

"Bethesda."

"Where?" Confusion clouded Tony's face.

"Bethesda Naval Hospital," Gibbs repeated, his tone full of patience.

"Why?"

"You were hit pretty hard in the head. Do you remember that?"

"No." Tony tried to shake his head, but it only caused pain.

"Relax Tony, you're alright." Gibbs moved up a bit, so he was closer to Tony's head. He put a hand on Tony's arm to calm the younger man down. "Everything's alright."

Tony looked frightened for a moment, but Gibbs' soothing tone helped him greatly. He relaxed against his boss' touch and was almost completely calm when Brad and Emma came running in.

"Brad? Emma?" Tony asked brightly.

"Hey Tony," said Brad with a smile. Although he was still worried, that worry did nothing to help his patients feel safe around him.

"It's been a while," Tony said apologetically. "Sorry about that, I've been so busy lately."

"It's only been a couple of days."

"A couple of days? I think you're the one with a head injury then Brad."

Brad looked at Emma, and they both frowned. Something wasn't right.

"Tony, do you know what today's date is?" asked Emma.

Tony thought a moment, then said, "June 25th."

"What year?"

"2012."

Emma sighed. "He must have more damage than we thought," she said to Brad.

"Tony, it's 2014," said Brad carefully.

"No, it's not. It can't be. Can it?" Tony directed his question to Gibbs.

"Brad's right Tony, it's 2014," said Gibbs gently.

"Then where did the two years go?"

"You've got a very bad head injury Tony. Your brain hasn't fully recovered yet. It's going to take some time for you to get those missing memories back," said Brad.

Tony frowned. He trusted Gibbs to tell him the truth, but he just couldn't believe it. There was no way it could be 2014. He would remember that if it were true. He looked at Emma, who looked miserable. Then he looked at Brad and saw worry etched onto his face. Finally, he looked at Gibbs. His boss seemed worried, but he was hiding it well. That gave Tony a sense of relief, not because he was missing two years of his memory, but because he had Gibbs there to look after him until he remembered everything.

"Gibbs, I think we need to do some tests," said Brad.

Tony listened to the exchange between his boss and his friend, but it wasn't registering. He was looking at Emma again, and something about the look she was giving him made him think that something had happened between them, something he didn't remember.

"Tony? Can you hear me?"

Tony looked to his right. Brad was standing there.

"Sorry?"

"I said, I want to do a few tests, okay?"

"Okay."

"And I need to check you. I'll start with your eyes. I want you to look at me." Brad waited a moment until Tony was looking directly at him, then turned on a penlight and shined it in Tony's eyes. He was happy to see that both pupils reacted properly.

"Brad, what's wrong with Emma?" Tony asked.

"Why?"

"She's upset. I think it's my fault but I don't know why."

"It's not your fault Tony. And Emma will be alright, it's just been a long few days for her."

"Are you sure?"

"Very. Take a deep breath for me."

Tony felt a stethoscope touch his chest, so he took a few deep breaths. But he wasn't focused on what Brad was doing. He was too busy trying to figure out what was happening. He didn't understand it. Yesterday, he had been at work, arguing with Ziva over some stupid little thing. Now he was laying in a hospital bed, being told he was missing two years of his memory, his life. It didn't make any sense.


	12. Chapter 12

Tony was still lost. Brad had finished checking him and was taking him to get scans done on his head. He wasn't bothered by it, but he wanted to know what was happening. He had asked Gibbs to get Ziva for him, and Gibbs had just nodded. He didn't say anything except that Tony didn't need to worry and that he would be waiting when Brad brought Tony back to the room.

"Alright, Tony, we're here," said Brad. He had sent Emma on an early lunch break so she could calm down, which meant that he was doing this test alone, though a nurse was on standby.

"How long does this take?" asked Tony. He let Brad and the nurse move him from his bed to the scanner's table.

"If you stay still, roughly forty minutes."

"Are you going to be here?"

"Not in the room, but I'll be watching you. If you need anything, just say so. I can hear you if you talk, alright?"

"Okay." Tony relaxed his body so that he could get comfortable. He felt a blanket being put over him, then he was moving.

Brad stopped the table once Tony's head was inside the machine. He adjusted the blankets, then carefully untangled the wires and tubes coming from Tony.

"Tony, we're starting the scan now. Stay still for me, and this will be done before you know it," Brad told his patient before leaving the room.

* * *

Gibbs walked into the waiting room, feeling tired. He looked around at all the expectant faces, but he couldn't muster a smile for them.

"Tony's awake," he said, "but he's lost his memory of the last two years. He thinks it's 2012. And he thinks Ziva is still here."

"But Ziva's not here. How are we going to tell him that? He's going to ask for her, and when she doesn't come, he'll want to know why," said Abby.

"He did ask already. When he comes back from his CT scan, I'll talk to him, but don't be surprised if he doesn't believe any of it."

"What about Bishop then? He won't know who she is."

"That's another problem. But at least, he can get to know her. She'll be there for him to talk with and meet, even if it's the second time."

Bishop smiled. "Good way to start off on the right foot then," she said.

"It'll hopefully be temporary, but there is a chance that this memory loss may be permanent."

"We need Ziva back then. She got you to remember everything, she'll be able to get Tony to remember things too," said McGee.

"No, she won't. His memory stops just before she left. She doesn't know anything that's happened in the last year or so."

Ducky stood up. "He will get his memory back. He just needs something to trigger it. Like, say, a lovely young woman he has feelings for?"

"Emma's miserable right now Duck. She's not only lost her boyfriend, but her best friend too. There's no need to make it worse for her."

"Trust me, it won't. She'll feel better for helping, and Tony will be able to get his memory back. Maybe not today, but definitely in the next few days."

* * *

Brad was relieved to find that Tony's scans showed no more damage than the swelling that was nearly gone and the minute fractures lining the back of his skull where the bones had been put back into place. It seemed as though the memory loss was just temporary, and a trigger could be the fix he needed. He turned off the machine after ordering the head scans and headed back down to Tony. He was surprised that Tony hadn't moved around as much as people did, but he was grateful. The scans had taken just over thirty minutes to complete.

"Tony, are you awake?" asked Brad curiously.

"Yes. Is it done yet? I want to go back to Gibbs now," said Tony.

"I'm done. Let me get you out and we'll get you back in bed, then we can go back upstairs." Brad pressed a button at the top of the machine and the table moved out, revealing Tony's head.

"Did you find what you were looking for?"

"I was hoping to find nothing. Yes, I found nothing, which is good."

Tony smiled a little. Does that mean I'm okay?"

"No, it means that the memory loss is temporary. If we can find a trigger, we'll be able to get you back to yourself."

"Can I go home?"

"Definitely not. Your brain and your skull need to completely heal first, and then we need to make sure that there's no permanent damage. This is going to be a long recovery Tony, and it won't always be easy."

"That's okay. Gibbs told me he would help."

"When did he say that?"

"Before you came in. He had this whole speech about how he would help me and look after me and all this stuff that he's never said before."

"That was nice of him."

Tony smiled. "That's why he's the best boss in the world."

"He certainly must be. You always want him before anyone else."

"That's because he cares. It doesn't always seem like it, but he cares a lot."

Brad smiled. Finally, he understood why Tony looked up to Gibbs so much. It must have been a relief for Tony to find his way to NCIS in the first place. Not only did he gain a brilliant boss, but he also gained a real family.

* * *

Five minutes later, Brad was wheeling Tony into his room. It was empty, except for Emma, so he put the brakes on the bed and told Tony he would be back with Gibbs soon. He closed the door behind him, but watched as Emma went to sit on the bed. When she reached out to grasp Tony's hand, Brad smiled. She had calmed down a lot and he knew she would help Tony.

* * *

Emma smiled. She had gone outside for her break and let the fresh, cool air calm her down. When she had come back up, she had gone straight to Tony's empty room, wanting to be there when he came back.

"Hi Emma," said Tony with a sheepish grin.

"Hey Tony, how are you feeling?" asked Emma.

"I could be better. I wish I knew why I've lost my memory."

"You have been through quite a bit in the last few days. Your brain needs time to finish healing."

"Is there a way to speed that up?"

Emma laughed. "No. Sorry, but that's something you need to wait for."

"Oh," said Tony, sounding genuinely disappointed.

"Don't worry, it'll come back. Did I hear you ask Gibbs to get someone named Ziva earlier?"

"Yeah. She's my partner. We've worked together for almost eight years now."

"Tony, there's no Ziva on your team."

"Are you sure?"

"Very. I've met the whole team, and there is definitely no Ziva."

"Maybe she went back home for a bit? She used to live in Israel, and Gibbs makes sure she goes home at least once a year."

"I guess that's possible." Emma felt bad for Tony, he really thought that his friend was still around. "Brad went to get Gibbs, maybe he can clarify things for you."

"You aren't staying?"

"No, Tony. I need to get back to work. I'll come back on my next break, okay? And, hey, you may see me before then, if I get to come and check on you."

"Yeah, that would be good." Tony was lost in thought. He really liked this girl.

Emma laughed. "Goodbye for now Tony." She walked out of the room, a big smile on her face.


	13. Chapter 13

Tony felt his eyes closing once Emma had left. He was tired, but he hadn't wanted to stop chatting with her. But now, even though he knew Gibbs was on his way back, Tony couldn't stay awake. He yawned, falling asleep just before his boss came back into the room.

* * *

Gibbs was glad to see Brad. The team had been waiting in silence after Gibbs had told them about Tony's memory.

"Agent Gibbs," said Brad wearily. It had been a long twenty four hours.

"Brad, how's Tony?" Gibbs stood and turned to face the doctor.

"He's back in his room. I left him with Emma, but I dare say he'll probably be asleep in the next few minutes. His CT hasn't shown anything more than what we already knew, and the fractures have started to heal nicely. The swelling is almost completely gone. There's nothing to suggest that Tony's memory loss is a permanent thing. So, all we can really do at the moment is wait and see what happens. His recovery is going to be a long one."

"I know. Work wise, is he able to return to work anytime soon?"

"No. I can't give you a definite period of time that he'll be in here for, because even once his brain and skull have healed, the risk of damage is still great. He's going to need physical therapy at the very least to get him back to his full capacity, or as close to that as possible. And then, when he does go home- preferably with someone that can look after him- he'll be off work while his therapy is happening."

"So, you think I need to talk with the director to put Tony on indefinite leave?"

"I think that's a great idea. If you need me to come in, or call, and fill in the medical problems, just tell me."

"Thank you. Can I go back in there now?"

"Of course. I would suggest, though, that visitors are kept to a maximum of two at any one time, and for only five minutes at a time. Gibbs, we've agreed to make an exception for you, as Tony does have you listed as his next of kin. You can stay with Tony for as long as you like, and you won't be counted in the visitor ratio either. But that also means that we are trusting you to ensure that everyone sticks to the rules. Visiting hours in the ICU are between ten and one pm, then again from six to eight pm. You must stick to those hours, though you are free to wait in here. There are tea and coffee facilities in the back of the waiting room."

"Can we bring food for Tony to have at lunch?" asked Abby, coming to stand next to Gibbs.

"Not at the moment. He probably won't have an appetite for a while anyway, but until he is eating enough for our liking, he will be eating the food made for the hospital patients. Don't worry Abby, the food up here is much nicer than in the rest of the hospital."

"What about presents?"

Brad smiled. He loved how protective this team was when it came to Tony. "Presents will be fine."

Abby smiled happily. "When can we see Tony?"

"Not right now. I would prefer if he didn't have any visitors until tomorrow morning."

Abby nodded. She returned to her seat, while Gibbs headed back to Tony's room.

* * *

Gibbs closed the door softly behind him, having noticed that Tony was asleep. He wouldn't wake the younger man, he would just be there if Tony needed him overnight. Pulling the chair that Abby had sat in the last two days over to the bed, he sat down and made himself comfortable. He looked over at Tony, noting that he was still pale. The oxygen tube that Brad had put into Tony's nose when he had brought Tony home two days earlier, as well as the steady beeping of the heart monitor, was a comfort for Gibbs. As much as he wanted Tony to be completely healthy and well, he was glad that the younger man was getting the care he needed. He was glad that Tony was comfortable too, or as comfortable as was possible when you had dozens of wires and tubes attached to your body.

"Ah, Tony," said Gibbs, shaking his head. "Why you?"

The question was rhetorical, but Gibbs wished he knew the answer. He would do anything to protect his favourite agent, his son. He couldn't wait to see the three people responsible for this go on trial, and, ultimately, go to prison- hopefully for the rest of their lives.

* * *

Gibbs was awoken by the smell of food. After a moment, he looked over at the bed and saw that Tony was sitting upright with several pillows behind him as support. The table had been moved from near the window to the bed, close enough for Tony to reach whatever was on it without having to stretch too much. There was a tray on the table with two bowls and a covered plate on it. An closed container of juice sat next to the plate, and Tony's water cup was sitting next to the tray. He looked tired as he reached out to open the covered plate, his hand picking the cover up awkwardly due to the pulse oximeter on his finger.

"Use the other hand Tony," said Gibbs softly as he stood up to help his agent.

"Right," said Tony sleepily, though he didn't actually do so.

Gibbs smiled one of his rare smiles that were usually reserved for Ducky or Abby. He reached over and picked the plate's cover up, putting to the side. He noticed that there was fish on the plate, one piece grilled and one fried. Brad had been right, the food in the ICU looked much more appetising than the food anywhere else. The fish actually smelled nice, along with the bowls of chips and salad.

"Thanks boss," said Tony after he yawned.

"It's alright Tony. Are you alright to cut the fish up?"

"I think so." Tony grabbed his knife and fork, then tried to cut the fish pieces up. It came out sloppy, but he succeeded. A lopsided smile lit up his face for a moment. "There, I did it."

Gibbs gave a soft chuckle. He went back to his seat and picked up a magazine to read.


	14. Chapter 14

Tony put a bite of the fried fish into his mouth first. It actually tasted somewhat nice, considering it was hospital food. He at the rest of the fried fish, then put the fork down and picked up chips instead. They had salt on them, which helped Tony feel a little bit better than he had been. He managed to eat half the chips before he decided that it was enough for him.

"Boss? Did you want some food? I won't eat it all," said Tony after he drank some water.

"No thank you. I'll eat later. If you don't want anymore, just leave it there."

Tony nodded a little bit, being careful not to hurt his already sore head. He hadn't realised the pain he was in until Emma had come in to help him sit up for dinner, and he really couldn't wait to lay down again.

"Boss, could you help?" Tony asked after he tried to put the cover on the plate again. He had switched hands, but the bandage covering the IV needle was making it difficult to bend his hand enough to pick the cover up properly.

Gibbs looked over and saw that Tony was struggling. He stood, grabbed the cover from Tony and put it on the plate. The look on Tony's face was enough for him to understand how grateful the agent was.

"I think you need to lay down and rest again," said Gibbs. He moved the table away from the bed, grabbed the control for the bed and pressed one of the buttons until Tony was flat again. Then he moved the pillows so that only one remained under Tony's head before sitting back in his seat.

"I think I'm going to go back to sleep, boss."

"Good idea."

"Could you bring Ziva here tomorrow?"

Gibbs sighed. He looked at Tony and saw that the younger man had fallen asleep, so he sat back, thinking, _how am I supposed to tell him she isn't here anymore?_

* * *

The next morning was Friday. Bishop and McGee were sitting at their desks, trying to complete paperwork for the upcoming trials for Max and Zoe, as well as the paperwork to transfer Tracy to DC when her trial came up. It was long, boring work, and without Tony's smart comments and constant movie quotes, the time seemed to just drag on.

Sighing, Bishop looked up and stared off into space. She had tried not to let Tony's memory loss bother her, but truthfully, it hurt that he didn't know her. She had come to count on his support over Jake, and only Tony knew how to get her laughing over it. She kept thinking about something he had told her just after she had gotten divorced- that his own romantic relationship with Wendy had almost ended up in a happy marriage until she left him the night before their wedding.

"Hey, Bishop, you okay?" asked McGee.

"Yeah Tim, I was just thinking."

"About Tony?"

Bishop nodded. "I'm going to see him at lunch."

"I'll come with you. I know Abby and Palmer are planning to go tonight, and Ducky's still at the hospital, working with Brad to get answers about how Tony's doing."

Bishop smiled. "How am I supposed to pretend I don't know him?"

"Don't pretend. Maybe you might say something that triggers his memory."

"Okay." Bishop went back to her paperwork, still feeling bad for her friend.

* * *

Tony woke up on Friday morning without a headache, which was a relief after the previous day. He was still tired, but not as much as he had been when Brad had woken him for a checkup shortly after he had gone to sleep after dinner.

"Good morning, Anthony," said Ducky cheerfully as he entered the room.

"Hi Duck," said Tony quietly, having noticed that Gibbs was asleep in the chair.

"How are you feeling?"

"Tired. Are you taking over for Brad?"

"No. I just wanted to make sure you were okay. I'm going home for a while, but I will be back later on. Would you like me to bring anything back for you?"

"Maybe just some clothes? And movies?"

"I'll see what I can do," laughed Ducky. "Do you want me to wake Jethro or get Emma?"

"Maybe Emma. I want Gibbs to sleep. He was up most of the night I think."

"Alright." Ducky said goodbye and left.

Tony was just settling himself in a more comfortable position when Emma came in, a big smile on her face.

"You asked for me?" she said.

"Am I allowed to sit up? My back is getting sore, and I can't get comfortable."

"Sure." Emma came over and adjusted the bed. She picked up the pillows Gibbs had moved the night before and tucked them behind Tony's back, providing some extra cushioning and support. "How are you feeling this morning?"

"Tired, but my head doesn't hurt anymore."

"That's great. Are you hungry?"

"A little bit."

"I'll get you some breakfast after I check you. What do you want to eat?" Emma asked as she used her stethoscope to listen to Tony's breathing.

"Uh, some toast? Or maybe a donut?"

"Sorry, no donuts yet. But toast I can do. What do you have on your toast?"

"Usually, just butter and strawberry jam."

"That's what I'll get for you then. How did you go with dinner last night?"

"It was quite nice for hospital food actually. I ate one piece of fish and some chips."

"Alright, that's quite good since you had only been awake for a couple of hours. I'll bet that by tonight, you'll be able to eat at least half of what we bring you."

"Maybe." Tony looked around for his cup. When he didn't find it, he turned back to Emma. "Can I get some water too please?"

"Sure. I'll bring that back as soon as I get your breakfast sorted. Let me just write in your chart and then I'll let you rest a bit more. Brad will be here in an hour and he'll probably want to come and see how you are." Emma made some notes about Tony's vital signs and then closed the chart. She took it with her as she left the room to order Tony's breakfast and get him some water.

* * *

Gibbs woke up just as Tony finished his breakfast. He was glad to see that Tony had eaten a whole slice of the toast before pushing it away. He knew Tony wasn't really a morning person, so to see the small smile on the man's face made Gibbs feel better.

"Morning Tony," he said.

"Hi Gibbs."

"I might go grab a coffee. Do you want me drink it outside before I come back in?"

"No. I don't mind."

"Alright. I'll be back in a little while then." Gibbs went to the door, but he looked back at Tony before he left, just to make sure that his agent was alright.

On the way out of Tony's room, Gibbs bumped into Brad. The doctor smiled.

"Hi Gibbs, how are you?" he asked.

"I'll be better when Tony's back at work with me. Are you going to see him?"

"I am. Emma told me she brought Tony some breakfast half an hour ago. Is he eating?"

"I think he just finished. He ate one piece of toast."

"That's alright. It's enough at the moment to not make me worry. Is he talking?"

"He's a lot more understandable than yesterday. I think he's pretty tired still, but otherwise he seems somewhat like himself."

"Good. Where are you heading?"

"I need some coffee."

"Okay. There's a coffee shop downstairs that make really nice drinks. It's better than the stuff in the waiting room."

"Thanks Brad."

Brad smiled. He watched Gibbs go, worried about the effect Tony's injuries were having on the older man. He knew that Gibbs and Tony were close, but sometimes that could be an issue. After a few moments, though, Brad opened the door to Tony's room and walked in, giving his patient a smile.

"Good morning Tony," he said brightly, hoping that it would get Tony to feel happier.

"Hello Brad," said Tony, looking down from the TV screen. "Emma said it was okay to watch TV."

"That's fine, I have no problem with it. How does your head feel?"

"Good actually."

"No headaches?"

"No."

"Are you feeling sick?"

"No." Tony turned the TV off and placed the control on the bed next to him. "When can you take this needle out of my hand? It's becoming quite a problem, especially since I know you won't take me off the monitors."

"If you can keep lunch and dinner down today, then I'll take it out before I leave for the night."

"Okay."

"What's wrong Tony? You sound a little annoyed."

"It's not you," said Tony quickly, afraid that he had upset his friend. "I was just thinking, if I've lost two years of my memory, does that mean there's damage to my brain that you can't see on scans or tests?"

"No. It means that you need to heal. Your memory is associated with a part of the brain that can easily be seen on CT scans. You have nothing to worry about."

"Are you sure?"

"Very. Now, are you okay with me checking you?"

"Yes."

Brad came over and checked Tony's breathing, then grabbed a penlight out, checking Tony's eyes. He was glad to see that there had been no delayed effects of the coma or the brain and head injuries.


	15. Chapter 15

Lunch time came quickly once Brad had finished his checkup. Tony was feeling hungry, and couldn't wait to find out what was on the menu. If it was half as tasty as the dinner he had had the previous night, then he would definitely enjoy the food. Gibbs had left again to get his own lunch and take a phone call, Emma was on her lunch break, and he didn't have any visitors. He was bored by himself, since Ducky still hadn't returned with anything for him to do. And since this was the ICU, Tony was one of the few patients actually awake, so he couldn't even make new friends. He wasn't even allowed out of bed unless it was to go to the bathroom.

"Hi, Tony," said Brad as he entered the room.

"Hi." Tony sniffed the air, liking what he could smell. His eyes lit up. "Is that pizza?"

"Maybe." Brad put the plate down on the table and brought the table over. "You have some visitors by the way. Do you want to eat first?"

"They can come in. Who are they?"

"Agents McGee and Bishop."

"Who is Agent Bishop?"

Brad nodded, remembering that Bishop had arrived after Ziva left. "She works with you."

"No, there's nobody named Bishop on our team. I already told that to Emma."

"I know you don't remember her, but she is on the team. She's new to NCIS, started about a year and four months ago."

"Oh, so, that falls into the time period that I don't remember?"

"It does."

Tony thought a moment. If he did work with this woman, then where was Ziva? He made a mental note to ask Gibbs later. "Alright, let them in. Is Ducky back yet?"

"He is. He said he'll give the bag he packed for you to Agent McGee to bring in because he has a crime scene to go to."

"Can I see him first?"

"Sorry, he's in a hurry. He promised to come back later, and to bring a Mr Palmer with him."

"That's Jimmy. I wonder how he and Breena are getting along?"

"Sorry, you'll have to ask someone else about that. I'll send your teammates in. Enjoy your lunch." Brad smiled as he left, knowing Tony was going to love him later on for bringing such an appetising lunch.

Tony opened the foil covered plate that Brad had left him and grinned. Brad was a genius. He had gotten Tony's favourite pizza- sausage, pepperoni and extra cheese. Picking up the first slice, Tony took a small bite, savouring the flavour that came with it. He didn't even notice McGee and Bishop until one of them coughed.

"Hi Tony," said McGee cautiously. "How are you?"

"I feel alright," said Tony after swallowing the pizza in his mouth. "This is so good."

McGee and Bishop laughed. Tony looked so happy.

"So, guys, maybe you will help me. Who did this to me?"

McGee hesitated. He knew that Tony wouldn't believe him when he said that Zoe was the one responsible. So he was glad that Bishop stepped forward.

"Hi Tony," said Bishop, giving Tony a smile. "I know you don't remember me, but I'm Ellie Bishop. I work with you."

"So I've been told. Why don't I remember you? I would remember you."

"I started on your team about a year and a half ago."

"That doesn't explain why I don't remember you."

"The hit to your head caused your skull to fracture. A piece of bone was pressing on your brain, so it swelled up as a response. Your memory loss is your brain's way of giving you a chance to heal before all of your memories came back."

"Are you sure you're a federal agent? You sound like a doctor."

"I'm an agent. My father was a doctor. I learnt a lot from him."

"Oh." Tony smiled. "Who hurt me?"

"Her name is Zoe Keates. Do you remember her?"

"Of course I do. We worked together in Philadelphia before I moved to Baltimore. Why would she hurt me?"

"It's a long story, one you will remember when your brain heals. She didn't do this alone, though. She had help."

"From who?"

"Tracy Keller and her partner, Max."

"I don't know any Tracy Keller. I do know a Max, though. He's my neighbour. I doubt he would ever hurt me."

"I don't mean your neighbour. Max and Tracy live in LA, though Max is here awaiting trial and Tracy will be brought up here for her trial too."

"Okay..." Tony sat back and took another bite of his lunch. He was on the second slice already. "Does Gibbs know?"

"Yes."

"Can you guys find him and tell him I want to talk to him?"

"Sure," said McGee. "Our five minutes are up anyway. But, first, here's your bag. Ducky said he's put clothes in there, as well as some DVDs and a DVD player."

Tony grinned. "Cool. Now I won't be bored."

McGee and Bishop shook their heads. They walked out, leaving Tony to finish his lunch.

* * *

Gibbs came into the room and found Tony watching a movie. He smiled, remembering the last time he had been to Tony's apartment after his senior agent had been hurt. Tony had been watching a movie then too. And it seemed as though it was the same movie now.

"Tony, you wanted to talk to me about something?" he asked.

Tony paused the movie. "Yes. First, where's Ziva?"

Gibbs sighed. "Ziva is in Israel, Tony. She doesn't work with us anymore." He had really hoped that they would skip this conversation. Tony and Ziva had been extremely close. "She hasn't worked at NCIS for the last year."

"Why?"

"She had enough. Ziva wanted to go home, be with the little family that she has left."

Tony nodded slowly, feeling sad to have lost Ziva, but happy that she was with her family. "Okay. Can I call her?"

"I don't have a number. You do, but you'll have to wait until you go home, or until you get your memory back."

"Alright. Well, I wanted to ask you something."

"Ask away." Gibbs sat on the bed, waiting patiently.

"McGee was here before. And Agent Bishop."

"Okay..."

"I asked them who hurt me."

"Did they answer?"

"McGee hesitated. Agent Bishop answered me instead. She told me that it was Zoe."

"You remember Zoe?"

"I worked with Zoe in Philly, before I transferred to Baltimore. We were good friends back then. But we lost contact after I moved. I don't remember seeing her since then."

"Okay, I'll tell you this because you don't remember it. Zoe came back into your life about six months ago, and she was quite pushy right from the get go. You started to wonder why she was being so rude to you and giving you the cold shoulder, but you didn't get answers. Then we discovered that she was cheating on you, and you were devastated. She had already caused you to get injured, so we arrested her. But she got away after trying to kill Bishop. She showed up at my place where you were recovering, and you shot her in self defence. Abby shot a second time when she found Zoe pointing a gun at you. We finally put her in prison, but then Zoe escaped from jail with help." Gibbs paused, allowing Tony to process the information.

Tony was quiet for a while. It hurt to think that Zoe, his supposed friend, would do something like that. How could she, after everything he had done for her? He didn't even realise that Gibbs had stopped talking until he felt someone reach out and touch his arm gently.

"Tony?" Gibbs asked softly.

"How could she?" asked Tony, trying hard to not get too upset.

"I don't know. I suspect at some point she had stopped making the decisions for herself, but up to that point, I don't know. When you are well enough, I'll let you talk to her, alright?"

"Okay." Tony sighed and un-paused his movie, shifting his attention to the screen on the table in front of him.

Gibbs understood. He got up and left, leaving the door open a little, so that Tony could have some privacy while he tried to figure out his feelings.


	16. Chapter 16

Tony still hadn't allowed anyone to come in by the time dinner was brought around. He was hurting, and felt very much like crying now that he knew what Zoe had meant to do to him. The only person that had come in was Brad, and even he hadn't stayed long.

"Tony?" asked a soft voice at the door.

Tony looked up, recognising the voice as belonging to Emma. He didn't want to upset her, after all.

"Are you feeling up to eating some dinner?"

"Sure." Tony turned off his DVD player and moved it. "Thank you Emma."

"You're welcome. Abby's here. She wants to come and say hi. Is that okay?"

Tony hesitated. He was about to say no, but then he thought better of it. "Can she stay more than five minutes?"

"I'll let her stay ten minutes, because she's alone. Is that long enough for now?"

Tony nodded. "Is Brad coming back?"

"After dinner. He told me that you asked him to take out the IV?"

"Yes."

"Well, so far, we don't have a reason not to. If you keep that food down, he'll take it out tonight."

"Thank you."

Emma gave him a small smile and left, letting him start eating.

* * *

"Abby?" asked Emma when she walked into the ICU waiting room.

"Did he say yes?" asked Abby immediately.

"He did. You can have ten minutes with him."

"I thought it was only five?"

"It is. But you are alone, and I think Tony just wants some comfort from you. He asked if you could stay longer."

"Okay. Thank you. I promise not to do anything to put him in danger."

"I know you won't. Just make sure he eats his dinner."

"I will." Abby jumped up, grabbing the flowers she had bought downstairs and the teddy she had found in a newsagent on her way into the hospital. She followed Emma through the short corridors until they reached Tony's room.

Abby knocked on the door, then walked in. Tony was picking at his food and didn't look up until Abby sat in the chair Gibbs had vacated earlier that day.

"Hi Tony," said Abby carefully. Gibbs had told her about telling Tony what Zoe had done, and that Tony was extremely hurt by it. "Do you want a hug?"

Tony didn't speak. He could feel tears in his eyes and a lump in his throat. He just nodded. Abby jumped out of her seat and went over, wrapping her arms around him tightly, but gently at the same time. She felt Tony's arms go around her after a moment, and then heard his sobs when he finally couldn't hold it in any longer. Neither of them said anything for a couple of minutes, but then Tony finally calmed down again and he pulled out of the hug.

"Here," said Abby, handing over some tissues.

Tony smiled. "Thanks," he replied after he dried his eyes. "I'm sorry."

"Never say you're sorry, Tony. You know that." Abby grinned. "That bitch is going to get what's coming to her, don't you worry."

"Abbs, language," reprimanded Tony, though he smiled anyway.

"Oops. Won't happen again." She sat in the seat again. "I got you these."

Tony took the flowers and the bear that Abby held out. He thought the flowers were nice, but the teddy got his attention. Apparently, it, too, was a fan of punk rock music. It made him laugh a little, which also helped him relieve some tension.

"Do you like it?"

"I love it Abbs. He's actually quite a cute bear. Thank you."

"Anytime. Now, what's for dinner?" Abby stood again and peeked at the mess on Tony's plate. "Looks like chicken. Does it taste nice?"

"I guess. I haven't had any yet."

"Then have some. Tell me what it tastes like." She cut a piece of chicken off and handed it to Tony. "Now."

Tony laughed again. He took the fork from Abby and put the food into his mouth. "That's actually really good. Not as good as the pizza I had for lunch, but still nice."

"Perfect." Abby reached into her bag and pulled out her own dinner. "I'll eat too."

* * *

Ten minutes came and went, but Emma didn't want to kick Abby out. She could hear them talking, could hear Tony laughing. It was a good idea to let Abby stay longer.

"Who's with Tony?" asked Brad a few minutes later.

"Abby."

"How long has she been in there?"

"Uh, nearly half an hour, actually," said Emma, after checking her watch.

"Really, Em?"

"Sorry, but she's been good for him. He's laughing and talking again."

"Alright, but just this once. Has he eaten?"

"Yeah. Most of the plate was empty. Abby sort of force fed him the first bite, and then he did the rest on his own."

"Good. He kept it down?"

"Definitely."

"Okay. I'm going to check him and take out the IV. Can you grab me a syringe and some tubes so I can do a blood test?"

"Sure. I'll bring them in." Emma got up and went to get the equipment while Brad entered the room.

"Hi Tony," said Brad.

"Oh, hey." Tony looked over with a grin. "Abby was telling me about a movie she watched last night. It sounds like it was funny."

"Maybe you'll have to get the movie Abby, and watch it with Tony when he gets out of the ICU."

"I will," said Abby. "But, I think I've been here a lot longer than ten minutes. I better go."

"Come back again tomorrow Abbs?" asked Tony.

"Sure. As soon as I can. I'll see you tomorrow Tony. Bye Brad." Abby left as Emma came in.

"I kept all the food down," said Tony. "Can you take the IV out now?"

"Yes, I will. I want to do a blood test too, and a check up."

"Okay." Tony rolled up the sleeve of his top, which he had changed into earlier, and held his arm out for Emma. She was done with the blood test in no time, leaving Brad to check Tony.

"Take a deep breath please Tony." Brad took a couple of minutes to listen to Tony's lungs, satisfied with what he heard. It didn't take long to complete the check up either. "Alright, time to take out the IV. I'll re-bandage your hand after I take it out, just to let it heal a bit."

Tony nodded. He rested his hand in Brad's, letting the doctor take off the bandage and take the needle out of him. Then he waited patiently while Brad cleaned his hand and put a band-aid over the area, and, finally, wrapped the bandage back around Tony's hand.

"Okay, done. How does that feel?"

"It feels a lot better. Thank you."

"You're welcome. I think that in the next few days, providing that your vital signs stay strong and stable, we'll move you to a ward. But until then, I need you to promise me that you'll tell me or Emma if you feel sick or if anything starts to hurt."

"I promise. Hey, Brad, before you go, is it possible for my memory to come back without a trigger?"

"Of course. It's not common, but it has happened. Why? Do you remember something?"

"No," said Tony, feeling slightly frustrated. "I was kind of hoping that I did though."

Brad smiled. "It will come back, just give yourself a chance. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay. Good night."


	17. Chapter 17

Tony awoke suddenly on Saturday morning, feeling scared. He wasn't sure what had woken him though. It was bright outside, but quiet inside. The nurses were at their desk, Gibbs was fast asleep in his chair. No-one else was even in the room. It was odd. He was too scared to close his eyes again, just in case Zoe came after him again.

 _Wait,_ thought Tony, _Zoe coming after me again? Where did that come from? I remember Zoe coming to Gibbs' house while I was waiting for Abby during my rib recovery time. I remember asking her why she cheated on me, and I remember she said that it was because my neighbour, Max, wanted to meet her parents when I didn't. But we had only been dating for two months, so why was it a problem?_

"Tony? Tony, can you hear me?"

Tony looked up at Gibbs. He seemed worried, which, Tony guessed, was because he hadn't gotten a reply out of the agent.

"Tony? What's going on?" Gibbs demanded.

Tony didn't answer. His head was swimming with thoughts of Zoe and her attack on him. He couldn't understand why she did it. And he wasn't sure who the other two people were, but he remembered hearing two other voices besides Zoe's. He remembered Zoe being panicked about something to do with him, and remembered some other woman telling her to get over it. He couldn't shake the thoughts, even though they frightened him more than having the plague and nearly dying did.

"Tony? Are you with us?" came a new voice.

When Tony didn't answer, he heard his boss again.

"What's wrong with him Brad? I woke up to him tossing and turning in bed, looking like he was in pain. I've never had to see a seizure before, but that sure as hell looked like one."

"I doubt it was a seizure. His vitals are still somewhat normal. I think he may be in pain, yes, but I also think it's something else." After a moment, Tony felt hands turn his head to the left. "Tony, can you hear me? If you can hear me, squeeze my hand." Tony felt a hand slip into his, carefully holding on. "Come on, Tony, I know you can hear me."

After a moment, Tony recognised the voice as Brad's. Suddenly, he felt calm enough to open his eyes again. Weakly, since the memories and terror related to them had sapped his energy, Tony grasped Brad's hand and squeezed it a little. He saw the relief in Brad's eyes, heard a sigh of relief from somewhere behind the doctor. He loosened his grip on Brad's hand, but didn't let go, the doctor's relief and calm demeanour helping him to relax a little more.

"Tony?" asked Brad again.

"Gibbs." Tony tried to find his boss. "Gibbs?"

"I'm here Tony," Gibbs said from behind Brad. "Relax, Tony."

"Hey, are you back with us?" asked Brad softly once he felt the tension leave his patient's body.

"I'm sorry," Tony mumbled.

"You don't have anything to be sorry for, Tony. Can you tell me what just happened?" Brad used his free hand to check Tony's temperature and was happy to find that he didn't have a fever.

"I don't know."

"Yes, you do. It's okay."

"I... I think I remembered something..."

"Can you tell me what that something is?"

"Zoe... She left me at a scene... I stopped her from tripping a wire, then she glared at me... And when she walked off, a man was there with a gun... She had seen him, cause she was smirking at me... Then he shot me, and I don't really know what happened after that... Gibbs was talking to me."

"Okay. That's good, Tony. Keep going," encouraged Brad. He took a seat on the bed, his hand still in Tony's loose grip.

"Gibbs came with me to the hospital. He stayed with me all night." Tony shut his eyes, trying to recall what had scared him. "Then he took me home, after a day, roughly. And I stayed with Gibbs for a couple of days. But then she was there."

"Who is she?"

"Zoe... I remember her coming into the house. Gibbs wasn't there, and Abby hadn't come yet. I was alone. Gibbs had given me a gun, just in case. I knew that if it was Zoe, she would try again, so I got off the couch. I had the gun, but I couldn't keep it up. My ribs, and my chest, were hurting. Zoe told me that she cheated with my neighbour because I wouldn't meet her parents. And then she tried to shoot me. I shot first, to stop her. Then I remember Abby sitting with me, and I had to warn her that Zoe was going for the gun again. Abby shot her in the hand."

"Do you remember what happened after that?"

"I woke up in hospital. You and Emma were looking after me. I remember something about Gibbs telling me about surgery, but I don't remember much before that. I remember that I woke up with less pain. Gibbs was there again, and Emma too. I told you, Brad, that Emma was nice to me. Then you told me that I should tell her, so I did." Tony smiled at the thought.

"You're doing really well Tony. Keep going."

"Emma and I talked for a while that night, and we agreed to try dating... We got three weeks in before you said I could go back into the field."

"What happened in the field, Tony?"

Tony shook his head. "I don't know."

"I know that you do. Or at least, you know some of it."

"I don't," Tony said adamantly.

Brad could see that Tony was becoming frustrated, but he could also see something else: fear. It was common among patients suffering from amnesia when their memories finally return, so Brad was worried. Yet. Just because it was a common emotion, it didn't mean that every patient overcame the fear by talking about the memories they had recovered. Brad himself had had a couple of patients in the past that had been in Tony's position and they had ended up in therapy.

"Okay, Tony," said Brad quietly while trying a different tact. "How about you tell me what case you were working on?"

"I can't. It's ongoing. I think. Boss?"

"You can talk about it, Tony," said Gibbs. He had taken up a position by the window, within Tony's view but also far enough back that Tony could concentrate on Brad.

"I came in to work late, because I had my appointment with you. I was really happy, cause you said it was okay to go back into the field. I couldn't wait. Gibbs said I could go with them to the next scene that came up, but he hesitated when one did come, cause it was Zoe. She had escaped from prison. We checked out the scene..." Tony stopped talking.

"What happened at the scene. What did you find?"

"No. No more." Tony pulled his hand back and tried to curl up on the bed.

Brad took that as a sign to put the brakes on. He nodded at Tony and got up, looking over to Gibbs. Then he looked back at Tony.

"Is it okay if I look at your head? I just want to make sure that you haven't hurt it more than it already is."

"Okay," whispered Tony. He let Brad check him, then curled back into a ball, watching Gibbs and Brad leave the room.


	18. Chapter 18

Outside the room, Brad and Gibbs stopped. Emma was just walking in, but she was early, just like always.

"Em, can you do me a favour before you start your shift?" asked Brad.

"Of course."

"Tony's gotten his memory back, but he won't talk about anything that happened the morning he got hurt. Could you go and sit with him for a while? Just as his girlfriend, not his nurse?"

"Sure." Emma veered to her left and went into Tony's room.

"I want to get a therapist down to talk with Tony. I have no doubt that he remembers everything, but if it's that traumatic, he needs to deal with it. Tony has never kept a secret from me, never. Not even when it came to his feelings for Emma," said Brad quietly.

"I saw what he did. I don't think it's Zoe anymore, but I wouldn't put it past one of the other two to have etched a message into the wall of the tunnel beneath the prison. They threatened Tony, but not directly. They threatened Emma's life. Tony was so scared for her that he made me drive him here to tell her. That was when he got knocked out and kidnapped," Gibbs told Brad. "I think therapy would be good. But I want to choose the doctor."

"That's fine. Who do you want?"

"Rachel Cranston. She was Kate's sister. Tony trusts her a lot."

"Okay. Is Emma still in danger?"

"No."

"Good. I'll organise to have Dr Cranston come down later today."

* * *

Emma entered Tony's room and closed the door behind her. She didn't want Tony to have to hear what Brad and Gibbs were saying.

"Hi Tony," she said.

"Emma?" Tony asked, sounding very much like he was crying.

"Hey, I'm here. Are you alright?"

Tony shook his head. He turned around when Emma sat on the bed with him, her arm around his shoulder.

"Want to talk about it?" she asked.

"No."

"Okay. When you're ready, I'll listen."

Emma made herself comfortable next to Tony. As odd as it was to be the one doing the comforting when it came to Tony, she embraced it and let Tony rest on her shoulder while he calmed himself down. She knew he was tired, but he was also hurting, and the need for comfort and relief trumped anything else right then."

"Do you want to try sleeping for a while?"

"No."

Emma understood. Whatever Tony had remembered about his attack had him scared. Going to sleep meant dreaming, which in turn meant dreams about his attack. She wiggled down until she was reclining in the bed, Tony following automatically. By the time they had stopped, Tony had moved himself to rest his head on her chest. Emma gently rubbed his back for a while until she felt his chest rise and fall in a slower, calmer rhythm. She continued rubbing his back for a while longer, content to lay with him for as long as he needed. She wasn't sure how long she laid there for, but she was falling asleep when the door opened and one of her fellow nurses came in.

"Emma?" the nurse, Mary, asked.

"I'm awake. Am I late now?"

"Half an hour late, but it's alright. We know you've been having a tough time too. Brad asked me to check on Tony. How is he?"

"He's asleep. His vitals have come down a lot from when I first walked in, but they aren't normal yet."

"Why don't we let him sleep? Come and have some coffee with us before rounds."

"Give me a couple more minutes, just to make sure he's comfortable when I move."

Marie nodded and left Emma with Tony. Emma carefully shifted Tony's head to the pillows, then got up. She lowered the bed head, moved the wires for the heart monitor out of the way, and covered Tony with his blankets. She double checked Tony's bandages, glad to see that they were still white and straight.

"I'll come back at lunch, Tony. But if you need anything, call me. I'll come straight away, I promise," Emma whispered to her sleeping boyfriend before she quietly left the room.

* * *

"Emma? Are you okay?" asked Mary once they were sitting in the nurses' lounge for their lunch.

"I feel so bad for him, Mary. Tony is such a sweet, caring man. Why is it that he's the one that gets hurt all the time. He didn't even get a month out of here before he got hurt again."

"I wish I had an answer for you. Why don't you go and spend some time with Tony? It's lunch time, and I'll bet he wants some company."

"Has he had any visitors yet?"

"Miss Sciuto tried to see him, but he was still asleep at the time. I told her to come back this evening."

"Okay. What about Gibbs? He hasn't left Tony's side in three days."

"Tony refused to let him in an hour ago. I think he's upset with his boss."

"Really?"

"Maybe. It could just be that he only wants one person in particular at the moment. After all, he did just get his memory back. But, just in case, Agent Gibbs is in the waiting room. He refused to leave just in case Tony wanted him."

Emma smiled. "I guess that's pretty understandable." She got up and grabbed her lunch. "He should be eating by now, right?"

Laughing, Mary just nodded and gave her friend a little push towards the door.

* * *

Tony was awake and slowly eating his lunch. He was bored, but the thought of a movie tired him out, so he chose to just stare at the wall in front of him. He knew Emma was busy, so he hadn't asked for her, but he really hoped she would keep her promise and come in when she had her lunch break. He was thinking about all the dates they could be having when he finally got out of the hospital when the door opened. A smile finally appeared on his face when Emma walked in, carrying her lunch.

"Good afternoon," she said to him. "I thought I would join you for lunch. Is that alright?"

"Yes."

Emma smiled. She put her lunch on the table and sat on the end of the bed so she was facing Tony. They ate together in silence for a while, Emma noticing that Tony was now eating properly. Her presence seemed to have given him a bit of a boost.

"Emma?" Tony asked after they had finished eating.

Emma looked over from where she was standing, having moved the table out of the way. "Yeah Tony?"

"I'm sorry about before. I shouldn't have shut you out."

"That's alright. You aren't shutting me out, just protecting yourself. I can understand that." She came over and sat with him again.

"I remembered what made me come and tell you that you could be in danger."

"I'm safe now, alright? All three of them are in holding cells."

Tony nodded. "Someone had etched a message into the tunnel wall. I read it, and I knew that they were coming for you. I couldn't let that happen, I couldn't let you get hurt. So I told you. But on the way out of the hospital, a guy, I don't know who, came up to me. He looked like he wanted to ask something, so I waited, but then he pulled his hand from behind his back and hit me with a rock or something."

Emma took Tony's hands in hers and held them, gently rubbing soothing circles into the backs. "Keep talking, you can tell me."

"I don't know what happened after that. I saw Gibbs running over, but then everything was black. I could sort of hear voices after a while. One of them was Zoe's, and I could tell she was upset about something the other two did to me. I'm not really sure what that something is. And then, the next thing I knew, I was in here. Gibbs was sitting in that chair," he said, pointing at the chair that Gibbs had used that morning.

"You were unconscious for about three days," Emma told him, hoping to fill some gaps. "Brad helped a neurologist operate on you in LA before he flew back here with you."

"LA?"

Emma nodded. "The people that kidnapped you took you to LA. They were going to drive all the way, according to Gibbs, but ended up stowing away in the luggage compartment of the same plane he and the team were on. It was pure luck that Gibbs and the team were standing there, waiting for their bags, when you rolled out and landed on the luggage that had already been taken out of the plane."

"I rolled out of a plane?" Tony asked incredulously.

"Yes. You gave everyone such a scare. When Brad brought you back here, I was terrified that you weren't going to wake up. All I could think about was how unfair it was that we only got three weeks together. And then, when you woke up, I was so relieved that it didn't sink that you had lost two years of your memory until you looked at me like you did the first time we met."

"Sorry about that."

"Don't be. It isn't your fault." Emma gave him a grin. "It just means you have to make it up to me. I want to go out on lots of dates."

"Done... Well, when I get out of here, anyway."

"I'll hold you to that." Emma laughed, which got Tony laughing a little too.


	19. Chapter 19

Rachel was standing outside Tony's room, watching him with Emma. She wasn't in the least bit surprised that they had gotten together; Kate had told her about the chemistry between the two after she had gone home from the hospital. She liked that Emma brought out the real Tony, and she liked that Tony trusted Emma enough to let her see the real him. Rachel was thinking that Tony didn't really need therapy when Emma walked out. She gave Emma a smile before looking back in to see that Tony's dark mood had returned, and walked in, realising that without therapy, there was no way Tony would cope unless Emma was with him.

"Hi Tony," Rachel said once she closed the door behind her.

Tony looked up, gave her a smile, then returned to the book that Emma had left for him earlier that morning. "Hi."

"Can we have a chat?"

"Let me guess, Brad and Gibbs agreed that I should speak to a therapist?" There was no maliciousness in his tone, just defeat and hurt.

"They did. Honestly, I was standing outside for a couple of minutes, watching how you and Emma interact. I didn't think you needed to talk to me, but then I saw how upset you got once she left. We need to talk things through, but I'm not going to push you. When you're ready, you can tell me whatever you want to tell me."

"What am I supposed to tell you Rachel? I don't remember very much of what happened to me."

"But you remember something?"

"Yeah. It sounds odd, but I remember voices. I can't tell you who they belong too, other that Zoe Keates."

"Okay. Tell me about Zoe then. What did she say?"

"I don't really remember. I could hear that she was really upset about something that the others had done to me. And I heard her tell them it wasn't part of the plan."

"Did you hear anything else?"

"Not from Zoe."

"How many other people were there?"

"Two. Or, at least, that's all I heard."

"Did they say anything you could make out?"

"The woman told Zoe to get over it. She said I would be fine."

"Clearly, that was a lie."

"Yep. Sure was."

"What about the third person?"

"I don't know what he was saying. I could hear his voice, but it was muffled."

"Alright. That's a start. Do you know why Gibbs and Dr Pitt wanted you to talk to me?"

"No. How am I supposed to know when they didn't even tell me you were coming?"

"You didn't seem surprised to see me."

"That's cause you're Dr Kate's Sister. I know what you do."

"Okay. Just out of curiousity, why do you still call me Kate's sister?"

Tony shrugged. "I don't really know. I think it's because I didn't know your name, but I could tell you were Kate's sister. You look so much alike. And I think it's because I miss Kate. So when I see you, it's like I get to talk to Kate again."

"Fair enough. Kate did say you guys were pretty close, despite how much you annoyed her."

A grin spread across Tony's face. "So, why are you here?"

"To talk about what made you so upset this morning."

"Oh."

"Did it have something to do with Emma. Gibbs told me you were hell bent on keeping her safe."

Tony looked away. He let his eyes wander until they rested on the view outside the window. "Yeah, it did."

"Why didn't you just tell them?"

"I don't know. I guess because Brad kept pushing me to talk, and Gibbs wasn't stopping him. I felt like they were ganging up on me."

"So you told them to stop?"

"Uh, not exactly. I sort of raised my voice at them and told them I wasn't going to say anything else."

"Okay, well, that's quite understandable. You've been through a lot in the last few days. Nobody expects you to get straight back to what you're normally like."

"Yeah, but I shouldn't have gotten angry. They were just trying to help."

"Why did you feel angry? It can't just be because they were pushing you. You push yourself most of the time."

"Maybe it was because I was scared," whispered Tony.

"Scared of what?"

"Well, at the time, Zoe. I was scared she'd come back and do something else. But, when I started to talk about what I had remembered, I started thinking about everything else that had happened before I woke up here."

"Like what you saw at the crime scene?" Rachel asked tentatively, knowing that the question was what had gotten Tony angry in the first place.

Tony nodded. Tears were starting to fall from his eyes and he wiped them away angrily.

"It's okay to talk about it, Tony. You don't need to be afraid. Zoe and the other two people are in prison. They won't be out for a long time."

"There was a message for me, at the scene." Tony looked back at Rachel. "Etched into the wall of the tunnel. I don't recall what the message actually said, but it made me worry that Emma was going to get hurt because of me. I wanted to warn her, to protect her. I let Gibbs drive me to here, and I went looking for Emma. She was in a ward downstairs, so I pulled her aside and told her. I told her I wanted to keep her from getting hurt, so she agreed to have a protective detail or to go to a safe house. I was grateful, so I held her for a few minutes before we both had to get back to work."

"You left the hospital. What happened then?"

Tony shook a little as he recalled the details of his attack. "Gibbs was ahead of me, almost at the car. There was this guy who looked lost, so I waited for him to ask me for help. He never did. I was about to walk off again when the guy made a sudden move with his arm. My instincts told me something was wrong, and I went for my gun. I didn't get it quick enough, and the next thing I knew, I was on the ground, my head hurting from the rock he had hit me with. I saw Gibbs running over with his gun drawn before I blacked out."

Rachel nodded. She was satisfied with what she had heard. She knew Tony had gotten out what was bothering him the most. And while it would take time to heal, Tony would be alright.

"Is that all?" Tony asked. "I'm tired. I want to try and sleep, cause I'm sure Abby will be here soon."

"That's all. Tony?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you. I know that must have been hard for you to talk about, but you did anyway. You will get through this, even if it takes a while. And don't shut out Gibbs or Emma."

"I won't. Rachel, thank you for not pushing."

"I'm not stupid, Tony. This isn't the first time we've spoken."

Tony grinned. "But it will be the last."

"Yeah? We'll see about that. I'm going to recommend that you are allowed to recover at your own pace, with no therapy."

Tony's eyes lit up. "Thank you." He let Rachel hug him before she left.


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N: This is the final chapter. A week has passed since the end of the last chapter and it is Friday again; Tony is staying with Gibbs while he continues to recover.**

* * *

Tony was still in bed, though he was awake, when Gibbs knocked on the door.

"Tony, I'm heading off to work. Emma is downstairs, so you might want to get up."

Tony's face lit up with a big smile. Although he had been out of hospital for half a week now, he hadn't seen Emma and he missed her. He had been so happy when Gibbs had told him the night before that Emma was going to spend the day with him.

"I'm up." Tony climbed out of Gibbs' spare bed and dressed as soon as the door was closed again. He pulled on a t-shirt, being careful not to move his bandages or hurt his head, then headed down to the kitchen.

"Good morning, Tony," said Emma as she brought a cup of coffee and a cup of tea to the table.

"Hi," Tony said brightly. He had an appointment that afternoon for a checkup, and Emma had promised that they would get dinner afterwards. "I missed you."

"I've missed you too. How's your head feeling?"

"Good. I can't wait to get the bandages off though. I really want to wash my hair."

Emma laughed. "Well, after we get pizza tonight, I'll wash your hair. The last thing you need is to go back to the hospital because you were too rough and injured yourself."

"You'll wash it for me?" Tony asked happily. "Well, I guess I can live with that."

Emma shook her head. "You are so silly sometimes, you know that?"

"Yes."

"Whatever. Drink that tea before I call Brad and tell him that I need you to get your head shrunk again."

"You wouldn't?" Tony asked in mock horror.

"Want to try me?"

"Yes." Tony stood and lifted Emma to her feet, cuddling her tightly.

"I love you Tony, but sometimes, you are too nuts, even for me." She hugged him back. "Time for a movie, I think."

Tony looked at his watch. It was almost twelve pm. "Okay, movie time."

"Go get it started. I'll bring our lunch in." Emma moved to the fridge and pulled out the wraps she had gotten on the way over. She pulled out some water too, then headed off to the living room, joining Tony on the couch. "What are we watching?"

"I thought we could watch Back to the Future, since you've never seen them."

"Alright. We can watch that." She cuddled up with him when the movie started, loving the warm, fuzzy feeling she got.

* * *

Gibbs walked into the bull pen, finding his two uninjured team members at their desks. Both were concentrating on their computer screens, evidently deep into a cold case. They looked exhausted, but both had insisted on working anyway.

"Hey guys," said Gibbs.

"Hi boss," said McGee.

Bishop lifted her hand in response as she read something she had just found.

"Ellie, you got something?" Gibbs asked.

"Yeah," said Bishop. "We're working on a cold case from about two years ago. I think I found the missing link. Look at this." She turned her screen around to show Gibbs the information she had found.

"Great job. Get it to JSOC and they'll deal with it." Gibbs put a cup of coffee and a sandwich from his favourite diner onto her desk, doing the same for McGee a moment later. "I want the both of you to eat and drink. Then I want you both to go home and I don't want to see you back until Monday."

"How's Tony doing?" asked McGee.

"Better. He was in a good mood yesterday, and he's got Emma to spend today with. He'll be getting the bandages taken off this afternoon."

"Does that mean he'll be back at work soon?"

"No. Tony has a long road ahead. He's starting physical therapy on Tuesday, and on Monday he's going to see a neurologist to determine whether or not there's any permanent damage."

"I thought Brad was going to take care of all aspects of his care?"

"He is. He'll be there with Tony. But Brad isn't a neurologist."

"Okay. So, how long will he be off then?"

"At least the next two months. He won't be allowed back to work until the therapist is sure that he can handle it. His brain is still healing. Now, I'm going to see Abby, so call me if you need anything. And after I see Abby, I'll be talking to the director." Gibbs walked off to the elevator, glad that he had a team that cared so much for each other.

* * *

Gibbs finally got up to Vance's office. He didn't bother knocking, just opened the door and walked straight in.

"Gibbs, what can I do for you?" Vance asked without looking up from paperwork he was doing.

"I need to discuss Tony's work situation with you."

"How is Agent DiNozzo?"

"He's healing, slowly. He starts his therapy next week."

"Good. How long does he need off?"

"The doctors have said he won't be back for at least the next two months, Leon. Maybe more, depending on what happens when he sees the neurologist on Monday, and on how he does with therapy."

"Okay. Two months is what I'll put down for now. Let me know if it changes."

"I will." Gibbs paused a moment, unsure of how to phrase his next question.

"Spit it out Gibbs."

"When are the trials?"

"Keates is the first one. That's next month."

"Is there any way we can combine the three trials? Tony's been through enough because of them, he really shouldn't have to go to more than one trial."

"Keller and Max Johnson are combined, since they have the same charges. Johnson has an extra charge too- assaulting a federal agent."

"What about Keates?"

"She'll stay separate since there are lesser charges as well as a charge for escaping prison."

"I guess that's good enough. When are the other two on trial?"

"Right after Keates."

"So, roughly a month."

"Yes. Is DiNozzo willing to testify?"

"He is, though it is dependent on his health. But, like I said, he's been through a lot. I will pull him out if I feel it's too much for him."

"Fine. The prosecutor is from JAG- an Lieutenant Bud Roberts."

"I know him. He's good. Is he on both trials?"

"He is."

"Good. At least Tony will be alright for half his time on the stand then. Who are the defence lawyers?"

"I know Keates' lawyer is a man named Jonathon Fields. He's relatively new to his firm, but already a hard-ass. The other two have separate lawyers. Fields is representing Johnson, and Keller is being represented by a woman named Alison Willis. I don't know her."

"Me either. I really hate lawyers though."

"I'm beginning to understand that hatred, that's for sure." Vance looked out of the office window. "I don't know how Tony's going to cope with these trials. It's not going to be easy."

"I'll be there for him. The whole team will. And Brad and Emma too. If he needs us to, we'll pick up the pieces and put them back together. He isn't going through this alone, Leon."

"I know he isn't. I'll be there too, every day, for both trials."

* * *

 **JSOC stands for the Joint Special Operations Command.**

 **A new story in this series is on the way. It's called Trials, and will focus primarily on both trials for Zoe, Tracy and Max.**


End file.
